CELEBRATE!!

CELEBRATE
Lenten Photo Challenge: Day 5

Today is Valentine's Day and for many it is a time of flowers, chocolate, candy, wine and expressions of love. And people try way to hard. My wife and I used to be part of that crowd. We would try so hard to be a part of the made up holiday of love. And usually we would try so hard that our expectations fell far short of reality and in the end we would end up getting angry or frustrated. So we stopped all of that nonsense and just treated it like any other stupid Hallmark Holiday and simply acknowledged it with a small gesture and acknowledgement of our love to each other. So we don't really celebrate it anymore.

But we do celebrate Feb 14th for another reason!!! It is Gunnar's 10th Birthday!!! Gunnar was born on Valentine's day and so we gave him the middle name of Valentin and he has been our family sweetheart ever since! I have had a lot of dogs in my life and every one of them has been a great dog, but Gunnar has been the very best of all of my dogs! Every boy should be allowed to have the "best dog ever" and Gunnar is that for me. He is smart, loyal, fun, loving, protective, strong, and handsome. He is always happy to see me when I come home, regardless of whether I have been gone for 7 days or 7 minutes. He wants nothing more than to go where I go and do what I do. When we first got him, I was able to bring him to work everyday for almost a year and develop a very close relationship with him. We worked hard on his training and socialization. He loves people and wants to say "Hi!" to everyone but being a 100lbs German Shepard can be kind of intimidating to those that don't know him very well. He can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially when a baby comes to the house. He loves babies and realizes that we humans are not capable of caring for this small creature as well as him so he is always trying to worm his way into checking on the babies that visit.

He is a very active 10 year old dog. Each morning I make him run and play for at least 15-20 minutes and the same each evening. He has gone on vacations with us and those have been some of the best vacations ever. He loves to go camping. He recently acquired a taste riding about town in the golf cart we got and he rides around like a king in a chariot!

Gunnar is more than just my dog. Gunnar is my buddy. Gunnar is my best friend.