Bachelor Father

The world lost one woman but Ben lost his world

The world lost one woman and in the grand scheme of things that’s no big deal, it’s just one person, right? But when the world lost Claudia Ben lost his entire world. And what did Ben get for his loss? His mother in law, Sybil. From the moment, Ben met Claudia’s mother, Sybil, he did his best to tolerate her. It was a monumental struggled, and he wasn’t always successful, but he did it for the sake of his beloved wife. Just hearing Sybil’s voice set Ben’s teeth on edge and having to listen to Sybil’s opinions and pronouncements, particularly when the subject happened to be Claudia, was torture. Added to that Sibyl had worked tirelessly to have Claudia pair up with Derrick, a coworker of Sybil’s and the guy that Sybil ended up marrying. How’s that for a Jerry Stringer episode? When Claudia suddenly and tragically died the last thing on his mind was what would be done with Sybil? Ben thought that no other event could bring him to his knees the way that Claudia’s death did. Until he realized that Claudia’s mother would be living with him and his children – forever. Can Ben’s next version of forever include opening his heart to the beautiful veterinarian who bonds with Sybil and his children? 

Above is our  beloved 16 year old Portuguese Water Dog (PWD) Stormy Weather Man. This picture was taken a few days before he passed on to the Rainbow Bridge. Stormy was the inspiration for Boomer, the young PWD of the story.

Any time there is a representation of a real life being for the cinema or literature, the version is a adapted to the story. That’s really true in the case. Boomer is a competitive athlete, Stormy? Not so much.

Stormy’s grandfather was a Water Trail Champion, but that bit of DNA never really found its way to our Stormy. We thought between his pedigree and the breed characteristic as a “tireless worker” we would have a splendid running companion for my husband.  The first time my husband Tom took Stormy out for a run our Stormy saw a shade tree, sprinted for it, plopped down and refused to get up.  He never would run again. He wouldn’t swim either. We came to understand if he willing go into the  water he’d only do it in connection with being groomed. He was a metrosexual PWD.

In the story’s Boomer is a rascal,  Stormy was every bit of that. One of his favorite things to do was counter surf that meant he could get into the kitchen sink. This happened after a steak dinner where Stormy got a steak knife and made a game out of prancing around with the pointy end sticking out of his mouth – how would we have explained that to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputies at the scene of the knifing?