Sam is an animal we will never forget. A Bichon Frise (bee-shon freh-zay, accents on the ‘SHON’ and ‘ZAY’) that will always have a home — and plenty to eat — so long as there are hearts that beat. This is the story of the day he was acquired — Saturday, July 23, 2014 was the story how Chris Holcomb was promoted to Chief Meteorologist at WXIA and what else they need to do. But first things first . . . .

Sam was a large Bichon Frise — too large to be a ‘show dog’ and too small to be ‘anything else’ but a Bichon Frise. He came into our lives on Christmas Day, 2006.

We were all at the Salminen’s house that morning. Aimee Salmenan is the youngest granddaughter of my mother-in-law, Doris, who was stil with us at time, the widowed wife of Ben Peters. Aimee is the sister of Nicky Burke and the wife of Brian Salminen, who were the mother and father of teenagers, Andrew and Emily Salminen. Confused yet? Hold on; you will be.

Also present that morning were Nicky (the eldest daughter of Sue and Dick Rhone, as well as Aimee’s sister and granddaughter of Doris’s); Nicky is the wife of Dale Burke, the parents of an infant son, Jack. (Now, confusion sets in.)

Oh . . .Chris and I were there also, along with Sue and Dick Rhone, (Sue is Chris’s older sister, one of the two daughters of Doris’s, is my mother-n-law — mother to Sue who was my sister-in-law, being Chris’ older sibling, and Sue’s husband, Dick (my bother-in-law), who are Aimee and Nicky’s parents, as well. Now tell me you’re not confused!

We were all seated, on the massive sofas and easy chairs, on the wide fireplace hearth, on the floor, and wherever there was room by the Christmas tree, ostensibly to receive gifts from various relatives, which we did whenever there was a lull in the action.

Everyone knew that Chris and I had dog — Max — who had been euthanized the previous May. Max was an extremely smart and loving miniature poodle we had had for many years (forty, it seemed, at least), and he was ‘put down’ when he became very ill. Aimee knew Chris wanted a dog for Christmas — which was all she wanted, a dog to replace Max.

Aimee, with my knowledge and blessings, had found the dog through an online advertisement, a dog already neutered and named Sam, who was, at the time, about five or six months old. Aimee called the ad people a week or so ago and had bought Sam; she called to him, let him out of his cage, and he eventually came into the living room.

He came then from kitchen, scampering really and yapping, from one to the other of us — until he found HER, Chris, burrowing deeply into an area beside my good wife, a spot from which he has not moved an inch since coming onto 0wn sofa at home!

That, in a nutshell, is how Sam was acquired and became a member of our ‘family’. Now that Bobby, Barb and Alex are gone, married and have kids of their own — Geoffrey, Janelle, Meredith, Jason, Becca, Jordan, Noah, Paige, Zachary, Lily, Rosie, Hutson and Ellie — and all we have is Sam!

Plus a house that is much too big for the 2.1 of us!



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