So, this is a post from Aug 19, 2005. I had to repost it, because I didn’t import the old blog. It is not related to photography or computers, but on the anniversary of Busters passing, I decided to go find it from the database. I wrote this when he left for Cleveland.

How long have you known your best friend. I suppose some poeple don’t even have a best friend, but I do. I have know him for 12 years. That is a long time. I hardly know anyone other than family that I have seen on a regular basis for that long, other than my best friend. I know that he has been better to me than I have been to him. I have tried though. He has never demanded anything. I have often turned my back on him, but I always came back. He was always accepting. That is why it is so hard this time.

He has seen me through unemployement stretches, times when I have been too busy to talk to him, a troubled marriage, several long trips, stints in 3 different states and a move to the US and a great new marriage and my own house.

We have done many things together, as you can imagine, friends for 12 years would. For all that time, he has lived with me for most of it. I have taken him to the the American West, and states like Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. We have been out east in Canada to Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island. In exchange he has never refused to listen when I needed an ear. He was always there. No matter what time of night, or if I had gone back on a promise to him recently. He never held a grudge.

Our favorite activities were to watch TV, or go for a run or walk. We where running partners for quite some time. At one time, he could run faster and farther than me. Then he started to have trouble with his hips, and just generally slow down with age. He used to run beside me for up to ten miles. Now he is tired with a 10 min walk. I remember though, when we used to go for a run at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was quite a large park, mostly treed, with running/walking paths through it. We had our circuit. He never liked the beaten path. He would run circles around me, taking smaller trails through the trees, but never losing sight of me. How he loved to run. I felt bad when we had to stop.

He always seemed to be waiting when I came home. He would always drop what ever he was doing and come over and see me. He always seemed interrested in what I was doing. He never understood the computer stuff I was doing though. That wasn’t his thing. But he would still listen. He was amazing that way.

He had trouble with Kate though. He managed to accept Annie when she moved in, but the addition of Kate just seemed too much. He wanted more of a friend than I could be anymore, and he resented Kate for taking away my attention. He was still there whenever I wanted him, even when those times became less and less. He never really gave up on me, though many lesser friends would have.

In the end, we decided to part ways so that we could still be friends. It was still really hard to say goodbye. When I think of him, I think of the old days, hanging out, having fun, and going for runs. I try to forget to way he tried to ignore Annie, and snap at Kate. He was getting old, I tell myself. That sometimes happens.

But I feel guilty. I feel that he was there for me in the worst of times, and when he is getting old and needs me most, I have turned him away. I know it was the right thing to do for Kate, and Annie, and I have been more frustrated with him the last year than I would like to have been. And I hope that living with my sister Nikki will be good for him. Someone that can give him more attention without having a little one running around and getting in his face.

Good bye old man. We had a great run of things. I hope that you remember the good times, and that you can have more good times in your new place.

I love you, and I will miss you Buster.

Your best friend,
Chris