| Muffin's Story |
| Muffin, a mixed breed, must have been a beautiful puppy, but we didn't have the opportunity to share that time with her. The vet estimated her age to be 6 months shortly after we decided to keep her for life. That decision was not easy, and we had given her away twice within the first weeks before we realized that we had fallen in love with her. |
| Muffin had been a stray found wandering the streets of an industrial area in Newark, NJ. A co-worker of Jerry's brought a picture of Muffin to work in hopes that someone would adopt her. We both had dogs in our childhood but the decision to adopt was complicated by our living in an apartment above doctors' offices. We adopted Muffin, but we were so troubled by the wisdom of it that we first gave her away to the doctors' cleaning lady and the second time to a co-worker of Jerry's. Both times we requested that she be returned - the first because of guilt, the second because we knew she was meant to be ours for life. |
| Muffin's adoption picture 1969 |
| Muffin in her new home 1969 |
| Muffin at the Jersey shore early 1970's |
| We were born, raised and spent our first years of marriage in New Jersey. In 1974 we relocated to the Daytona Beach area of Florida where Lu's parents had retired. Not having children made the move easy, and Muffin never minded a car ride even one of 1200 miles. We first rented then purchased a small home in Holly Hill that had a small yard that we soon fenced. Here, Muffin busied herself keeping the squirrels treed in the palms. Florida's heat and humidity were tough on us especially Muffin so her shaggy coat was trimmed much more often than when we lived in New Jersey. Muffin was always along with us when we took many vacations north to escape Florida's subtropical weather. It was on one of those vacations that we discovered where we wanted to plant our roots. Sadly, Muffin did not accompany us in life to northern New England where she would have loved the cool breezes, the open meadow and the squirrels and chipmunks scurrying across the stone walls. Her ashes, though, are buried on the hill overlooking our forever home. |
| Muffin and squirrel 1977 |
| Lu and Muffin 1977 |
| Muffin's sudden death in 1979 was a devastating loss for us. We could not imagine having lived those 10 years without her. She was our constant companion giving us so much and demanding so little. Muffin's profound effect on our lives made it inevitable that other dogs would follow. |
| Muffin at backyard gate 1976 |
| Muffin and Jerry 1974 |
