It's been a while since I last wrote down a memory with my fur angel. It's not because I don't have any more...every night I tell him goodnight and think about him with all my heart. It's weird how things moved on but the heartache is still so raw. Anyway, I had my third rainbow and I just wish she had met my French soulmate..

Today would have been my Bruni's 13th birthday...Happy Birthday my love, I miss you and I love you to the moon and back. 

Well today all my Bruno memories have been somewhat disgusting so you ll have to excuse me as disgusting or not these are memories I d like to hold on to!
So here goes...my friend Ile, Bruno and myself were just hanging out doing our thing when she receives a phone call from her potential future boss inviting her over to her house for a first meeting or something. They obviously knew each other and my friend instead of ditching us asked me to go along for moral support and the rest! So off we go, the three of us (yes the THREE of us, Bruno was always part of the team!). We get to this high end house, massive driveway and everything that goes with it! We re introduced to the nice lady/boss and assure her that Bruno is the best dog ever and he won't pee anywhere. After a while I had to visit the ladies room but didn't want to leave Bruno alone as my friend and her boss had gone somewhere to talk more privately. So I take my Bruno and start wandering the halls trying to find the bathroom....and right when I m stranding on this huge, gorgeous Persian rug, Bruno decides to pull one of his old time favorites and throws up on it! I totally panicked, scooped the vomit up using a tone of toilet paper and-clever I know- threw everything in the loo and flashed....did it go down??? Nooooooooooooo! At which point I hear my friend calling my name! I m embarrassed to say but I just flew the scene in no time, pretending nothing was ever wrong! I m happy to report my friend got the job and nothing was ever mentioned. No questions asked no lies to be told! After all he didn't pee anywhere, did he?? :)

Yesterday we went to the beach (that's Greece for you, one week it's snowing the next you wanna go swim!) and it hit quite a cord for me. It was bitter sweet being there without my Bruno and I had this really strong memory come back! It totally made me cry but it's sure worth writing about!

I m not sure exactly when this was but it must have been quite early on when I first got my Bruno cause I didn't know French bulldogs can't swim! I thought all dogs swim! No, apparently frenchies don't as their body is so much heavier in the back. So we were at this beach living off that sunshine. We decided to take a little walk along the beach and came across a little stream that cut the beach in half. I easily crossed the stream, the water was a little over my knee and there was no currents or anything. When I reached the other side I looked back and saw my little Bruno all worked up. I started calling him and encouraging him to get in. My poor boy would step in but then back up again. He did that like a million times and then took a big leap. Jumped in and went all the way down to the bottom. I was worried dead! But then once his feet touched the bottom he jumped up again! He kept jumping in and out of the water like a little dolphin until he came out into my hug! My sweet courageous guy did it! I was so so proud of him!

Ok, I don't believe in ghosts as such but do believe in after life for all good souls! And of course my Bruno was more than a good soul...he was the best I ve ever met. So this morning I m laying in bed trying to get my head around getting up when I start hearing these very familiar noises...just like those my sweetie used to make he was around...not going to go into that but it totally brought this memory in my head that totally makes me smile....

When we first got Bruno my mom set this rule that he can sleep in the living room but not upstairs in my bedroom, which is just as well as Bruno was a big time snorer!! So he slept next to the radiator in the living room about 10 meters away from the couch! Now the couch was an ivory type of white and after Bruno arrived we started seeing these little black hair all over. My mom was furious saying the dog was sleeping on the couch blah blah blah...but he would never ever jump on the couch and we had never ever caught him on it either so she didn't have any real evidence! Then one morning I got up really early and started walking down the stairs...suddenly I hear this thud followed by tiny nails running on the wood...I get to the bottom of the stairs and I look over and there's Bruno fast asleep, eyes closed, snoring, sprawled in hid bed. Say what???? I thought I was going crazy! Same thing kept happening for a good week after that...every time Bruno was totally and utterly fast asleep in his bed! Then one morning I put on my socks and tip toed down the stairs quieter than a mouse..and there is the little bugger sprawled all over the couch! I back tracked a little and made a noise on purpose (I was hiding behind a wall looking at him!)...in no second he jumped off, run to his bed and pretended to be fast asleep within split seconds! I m telling you the best performance ever! Oscar wining!!! My little Hollywood star!

Good morning sunshine! I went to bed last night with my daughter, Natalia, and as always she kept waking me up for one thing or the other. Of course she d get whatever she needed and then drift into sleep in no time leaving me wide awake with my Bruno memories. It was a hard night but it also brought a couple of smiles to my face....

It was summer time. Summer time in Greece is pretty awesome! We were on holidays at this place called Stoupa. Of course my boy was with us! Holidays without Bruno are never as fun! But it so happened that he had had this skin infection where the wrinkles in his face were. French bulldog have quite the wrinkles and if you don't dry them well they can get infections. Yak! So anyway we d taken him to the vet who gave us a cream to apply but also put him in a huge collar so that he wouldn't be able to scratch his face! Have you ever seen one of these things? They look ridiculous and even more so on my little boy! But he took it like the champ he was! So anyway back to my story...we are both sprawled on the sun bed when I hear the following comment: " wow dude, do you think he has satellite reception???" It was one if the funniest comments I ve ever heard! I turned around and replied.."actually yes, he also gets cable tv"!  As you might expect Bruno became the star of the beach over the next few days! Poor sod would scoop up tons of sand with his collar (helping the kids with making holes???) and had the hardest time getting on the sunbed as every time he d jump, the collar would bump on the sides and he'd fall back! He did have an awesome time despite that of course and was for ever known as the "nova dog"!!!

Have a great day my love.

You will have to excuse me for the complete lack of a time line here but it's been so long and the memories are so many I will not even try to put them in order!

Here's a funny one I ve been telling my kids these last few days when I talk to them about my sweet Bruno...

It's spring time. One of our favorite place to hang around is the Sygrou park.  We live in the north suburbs of Athens, Greece. Not too bad I tell ya. But there's this park that is like heaven. I m not sure how big it is but it's full of tall trees, little pathways crossing them. There s lush vegetation in some parts, running water in others, and some man made features. So this park is our favorite place to walk around and chill. And by we I always mean Bruno and myself! So we re walking around like always when he spots a groups of golden retrievers. About 15 of them! Now Bruno was the most sociable creature on earth when it came to humans. I m sure he wouldn't harm a fly either but when it came to other dogs he d go crazy! Not angry crazy, no. Just the, 'I want to hump you' crazy type of! So he started jumping and pulling on his leash but I wouldn't let him go as I wasn't sure if the other dogs were friendly. Then their owner came and told me they were extremely friendly and that I should let him loose! The moment that 'click' was heard Bruno was gone! Little did he know! As soon as he made his first move, 15 golden retrievers started running after him!!! It was such a funny scene. I could barely see Bruno as the grass was almost over him but I could see his face pulled back, mouth wide open (and these frenchies have the funniest smiles ever lol!) running for his dear life, slightly looking back (those eyes had popped out and grown a whole size!) galloping through the fields! And then just when he thought he d pull through...he trips on this rock! Made a full 2-3 roll arounds while those golden retrievers caught up with him! My sweet boy had almost won but not quite! 

You might think that doesn't sound so funny but to me it was like watching a mr bean movie! They never hurt a hair from his fur and they played for hours after that! By the end of the day he was so knackered he was snoring (like he always did) before his head hit the bed! 

A small introduction to who my Bruno was...

Bruno was a black (for the most part) French bulldog. I have no clue who his parents were or where he came from. What I do know is that when he was a puppy a dad decided to get him as a present for his daughters. As the story goes, the girls were too young for a pet and the mom did not care to care  for the dog (especially as the dad was not in the picture). So back goes my Bruno to the 'dad'. He kept him for a few days before giving him to his girlfriend. Lo and behold, a few months later, the girlfriend has an allergy to dogs so 'here, take him back'. It's like he was pair of socks or something. So my poor boy would stay in the house for hours on end as his 'dad' was a doctor.

Now me. I ve always wanted a dog but my mum would never allow me to get one. When I turned 18 I moved to the uk to study. At the end of 2003 I had decided to return to Greece but I had a big overdraft in my bank. I was discussing this with my mum and in the heat of the moment she uttered the following sentence: "if you manage to pay off this overdraft then you can come back and get a dog". Can someone imagine how fast I paid off the overdraft??? Within a couple of months the overdraft was paid and I was packing my way home!  No need to spell out what I did as soon as I was back!

When I heard about Bruno, I was intrigued to see the little guy. Bruno was born on the 1st of August 2002 and at that point it was January 2004 so he was 1.5 years old. The 'dad' opened the door and this black bat looking dog came running out like the wind! He was so excited to see someone, he was running like a maniac around the house, jumping over a meter high! His appearance I have to admit was not what you d expect when you go looking for a puppy! But his eyes were so loving and trusting there was no question he was my dog!

So this is when our adventures begin!