Jake is 14

Yesterday, Jake turned 14. Fourteen! How is that even possible?! This past year has been trying with the decline and death of his sister, Sunny, but he takes everything in his stride. He’s now He’s an actual old man now, moves slowly, doesn’t really run, sometimes has trouble jumping up on furniture (so he makes use of the dog beds instead). He’s also hard of hearing and hard of seeing. I guess he and I have a lot in common.

As we did last year, Leo and I both sang him happy birthday (well, Leo more barked and howled, meaning he sounded better than me…). That’s literally true, too—we really did sing to Jake. As I noted last year:

For some reason, Leo always “sings along” with that song, and only that song, something that Nigel first noticed when it was used in something he was watching on TV and Leo started “singing”.

I gave Jake a special birthday breakfast (and Leo got some, too). He also had a special birthday dinner (and Leo got some, too). Jake got lots of cuddles and extra attention, and deserved every bit of it.

It would’ve been nice if he’d let me take more photos—these are the best I could get. And, yet, that’s nothing new, either—he’s never been a good model.

So, Jake’s still a happy and reasonably active boy, despite being older and often acting like it. He seems happy and content, and that’s probably all that any of us could ask.

Two years ago I said that Jake “came to live with us at a sad time, and made the sadness go away.” That’s why Jake is my special boy, always has been, and why Nigel called him his special boy, too. He can’t take away my sadness, but he makes me not mind it quite so much, and that’s more than enough.

Happy Fourteenth Birthday, Jake!

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Jake is 13
Jake is 12
Jake is 11
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Jake is 6
Jake turns 5
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Jake turns three
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Jake is one year old!
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