This is Deputy Digby Pancake. Since we are saying goodbye to all our friends at camp here this week, I got to thinking. Change can do that. It can make you do some thinking.

It’s been a good time in this Jacksonville, Florida place. Real good. There were some not so good times like when I got very sick. But you have to take the good with the bad in life, and realize the good weighs more with happy.

We came to think of this place as our home of sorts. Really, it had all the ingredients of home. We were familiar with the sights and smells. We made friends with neighbors and Camphosts.

We knew where to take out the trash, where to get groceries and didn’t even need directions after awhile. It was our town. And it was your town too when we were here. At least, we hope you did feel that way.

We used to think home meant staying in one place. Sure. There are a lot of good things that come with doing that. But Gandpa once said that home isn’t home without the people you love there. It’s just a place. So what happens when you get on the road again? Do you find another town to call home? Or do you find home with the ones you’re with?

I have come to see that persons want a sense of home just like us dogs. It’s just everyone’s version is different. Some like to stay in one place. Some like to go where the wind blows. Some don’t like their situation or where they are. But they find something that gives them a sense of home. Like dinner or candles or pillows or pictures.

Persons like to put up fences around them to make it more their home. I have never liked fences. Because the whole world should be our town, our home, even if the most we can travel is thru a book or a song. That counts.

So as we say goodbye to our town, are we really saying goodbye to what we think we may not see again? Because if we truly felt like that, that would be a reason to be sad. But I say that you always have a home to go back to if it’s in your heart. What makes you happy and comfy and beautiful. You’ve got the power to build that. How sweet it is to realize that.

So as we keep packing, when the tears come because of the future’s uncertainty, I tell the persons to stop. Think. They may have trials on this trip. But even if the Big Blue Treat Wagon doesn’t cooperate, we can build again. I’ve got all those materials of love. And that’s the strongest material there is.

–Deputy Digby Pancake

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