I Love You, Ringo

Some things happen in your life at exactly the right time. It could be meeting the right person, discovering an open source project you go on to join, or even starting a blog when you're bored with a job you don't enjoy. All of those things happened to me at the right time and brought me to where I am today. There's no real logic in the charmed hallmarks in your life, but they happen and shape what you eventually become.

Shortly after my wife and I married, we agreed we wanted a dog. We didn't have a preference for what we wanted -- we knew that when we'd meet the furry friend, we'd "just know" they were right. During our first visit to the dog shelter, we ran into a number of nice dogs, but there was one that we gravitated toward. His name nameplate read "Ringo -- Large Ears". It was impossible to decipher what breed he was -- Chihuahua, Corgi, ... who the hell knew? But he was the cutest dog we'd ever seen and we leapt at the chance to bring him home.

We brought him home and he became a large part of our life. First friend we saw in the morning, last we saw at night.

During this time I went from working in a traditional office to working remotely from home, which is a big life change. Luckily I had a companion to spend the days with me, by my side. And when I say "by my side", I mean literally by my side. He'd sit next to me on the couch buried under a blanket, snoring and dreaming, only popping out for the occasional bathroom break. He was a perfect "rubber duck" debugging partner.

With regard to Ringo's impact on this blog, some of my favorite memories were waking up on weekends, watching soccer, and blogging for hours on end, while my little man slept. He was with me, with the blog, with us, from the beginning.

When I moved from SitePen to Mozilla to MetaMask, Ringo was with me. When I brought both of my children home, Ringo was waiting to meet his new brothers. When we moved house, Ringo was with me. During every crucial point of my adult life, Ringo was with me. He kept me calm, made me feel loved, and made my life all the richer.

We recently lost Ringo to health issues and his loss has been devastating. A little guy we met by chance gave us incredible love and became the rock, the constant in our ever changing lives. Always by my side, always excited to be my friend. I hope I gave him as much love as he gave me.

I love you Ringo.