Happy trails...to you, until we meet again.

We've had the perfect roommate for probably 6 years now. He was "handed down" from another set of friends who were pregnant and needed to do some remodeling for the baby, and he was losing his room. Plus, I think babies kind of freaked him out.

When we bought this house, he came with us. Setting up in the non-bedroom bedroom downstairs. He was finishing up classes and eventually got on to forest fire crews in the summers. The last few years, he was gone more than he was here. Fire work meant at best he was home a few weekends during the summer. Then during winter he went back to his family in the great state of Wisconsin. When he was here, I rarely saw him upstairs. He was pretty content with a video game or a remote control. Him and Steve got along great and shared a love of the History and Military channel in the Man-cave.

The dog ADORED him. She pined away every time he left, whether it was for 5 minutes or 5 months. He played ball with her in the backyard, brought her lots of toys, treats and attention. Despite her love for him, I think he was a little nervous to come back this last summer, knowing there would be a baby in the house. But, he knew if it was rough, he could always spend more time at the bunkhouse where the fire crew stays during season instead of coming back down the mountain on weekends. Lo and behold, Little S helped educate him in the way of the baby. She wasn't up all night crying,  nor fussy if conditions weren't quite right. She's been a pretty go-with-the-flow kind of gal. And before long, they had a pretty special bond. She would see or hear him and she would just LIGHT UP! He got a pretty big kick out of that, and has gotten to pretty much watch her grow up from birth to 7 months. He started getting her little gifts as often as he got stuff for the dog. Including some awesome books, AND, the tiniest Smokey Bear T-Shirt and stuffed bear he could find for her.

Today is a sort of sad day. He packed up all of his possessions and pointed his truck East.  Unlike earlier years, this is it. He likely won't be back next summer. At least he's in Wisconsin, where one set of grandparents are located, so hopefully we'll get to see him every once in a while that way. And of course, we hope that the forces align to somehow get him out here again. Otherwise, there will be a very sad dog and no more photos like these:

So good bye for now Faas. The house is much too quiet without you. We'll keep the room open for whenever you can come back.