Hanging with Alex

Wow.  Can't believe a whole week has gone by already since my last post.  We're doing well here - we have moments of getting choked up, but for the most part we're okay.  What's surprising to me is how my brain hasn't figured out yet that Alex isn't here.  Every time I have one last bite of something in my hand I go to throw it to him.  Every time I hear a noise by the back door I look for him.  Every time I pull up the driveway I check for him at the fence.  He was just so much a part of every moment of being at home, I didn't realize. 

We've done a couple of things, though, that really help soothe our sore hearts.  First, we made a bulletin board of all of our old pictures of Alex.  It's sitting on top of the piano and I just love it:

Also, the kids and I did a little shopping over Memorial Day weekend.  We found a toy husky pup and painted him white.  Then we went to a plant store and picked out some lush little plants and put together a little mini-forest for our Alex to hang out in.  We covered it up so we could surprise Troy.  It was a great surprise; Troy and I both got pretty teary when he opened it up.  And it sits in our house and reminds us of the happy hunting grounds where Alex romps these days.  I hope it grows well.

We're still working on a couple of things like a grave marker and eventually a Troy-made shadow box with his collar and leash and some pictures.  I like keeping these things near by, and I even rub little mini-Alex's head as I go by.  Very therapeutic.