Cheers to Our Friend, Hank

Last week we lost another friend.  Another friend who had been to our house!  Mom, Vinny and I are so sad.  Our buddy Hank went to the Bridge last week, in his sleep, where he was sleeping in between his mom & dad.  He had been diagnosed with Lymphoma recently, and he just got very tired very quickly, and he decided it was time to go.

Hank checking out our backyard

Hank telling me some dirty jokes.

When I first came to live with Mom at the end of 2009, she was pretty clueless about pugs.  So she spent a lot of time on the ol' "interwebs" reading about pugs, and she came across a whole bunch of pug blogs!  One of the very first, was Hank's.  It was also one of Mom's very favorites.  Hank was a very special, very funny guy and he made Mom & I chuckle all the time.  We were so excited when, last summer, Hank's mom Sarah contacted my mom and said she would be driving through St. Louis on her way from Indianapolis to Oklahoma.  You might remember some of this from my very recent post in memory of Sweet Payton.  Vinny had just come to live with us, and boy did we have a good time bossing Hank around! 

  

You see, Hank always claimed to have been a 'Nam vet (he and my Grandpa would have gotten along just great for a whole bunch of reasons).  Well I was suspicious of this story from the get-go (I may or may not have had Grandpa make some calls to some high-ranking officials to try to clear up this story...).  So I put him through the ringer (and was of course assisted by my soldier Vinny!) - making him do plyometric pushups, army crawls through the mud, and we were just about to send him up in a chopper to prove that he could really parachute, when Mom intervened and told us to give it a rest.

Watching with pride as Soldier Vinny questioned Hank

After that, we still weren't sure if we believed Hank's military past (sure he showed us some dog tags but you can buy those anywhere!), but he somehow won us over anyway. 

 

Even when my Mom started snuggling on him!

 Mom, can't you see how much he HATES that?  You should pick me up instead.

 

And when Payton's Mom gave him a massage that I would give my first-born to get! 

 

But that was Hank - he was a charmer and could even soften the heart of a skeptic like me.
 

  

And clearly, Vinny as well!

 

  

  

We were pretty bummed when Hank left that day, and we promised to see each other again - this time in Indianapolis.  We are all so sad that won't happen now.  But we will still go and see Hank's mom because we know she is missing Hanklin and I feel that Vinny & I would probably be the best medicine, dontchathink??

Me sitting with Hank's mom (and Vinny sitting on the floor where he belongs)

 Sarah and me

We just can't believe that the 2 puggers that came to visit us last summer, Payton and now Hank, are gone. 

  

Mom sure has been giving us lots of hugs and we let her most of the time.  Hank will be missed beyond words by his Mom & Dad.  He was such a special guy, and such a good friend.  Tonight, Vinny & I are going to get a little wild and crazy over a sixer of PBR (Hank's drink of choice) and remember our friend.  We love you Hank, and Sarah too.  There will never be another like you.  We hope that you are having such a great time at the Bridge. Now you can parachute out of that chopper without any interference from overprotective Moms! 

The magnet that Hank brought us on his visit.  PS We Love You, too.  :)

Hank, his dad, his mom, and his sister Molly O'Malley - who we know is outrunning Hank at the bridge right now!

Big hugs and lots of love,
Vito (and my mom & brother too)