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I hardly know how to begin this.  This morning, Christmas morning, while I was still asleep, Cheri went to visit her son who lives about a half mile away.  She'd been worried about him.  Travis spent the last week on a drinking binge, and the last few days he'd been trying to sober up for Christmas.  Not just an alcoholic, Travis was a pink elephants, snakes on the wall, argue with trees alcoholic.  He'd get sober for a while but never very long.  We knew it was gradually killing him.

This Christmas morning, on checking up on him, which she regularly did, she found him dead on his kitchen floor.  His dog Buddy was next to him.

Buddy is an enormous, sweet natured guy, and I bet he weighs pretty close to what Cheri weighs.  He loves Cheri and Cheri loves him.  About 10:00, Cheri came in and woke me up to tell me, and she'd brought Buddy home.  We worried a lot about Buddy, what with Travis' hallucinations and sometimes violent outbursts.  Cheri always made sure Buddy had food and water because if she didn't, he wouldn't.  Being such a big guy, Buddy goes through a lot of food.

Counterintuitively, Buddy seems scared of the cat but I bet the cat is scared of him, because he's just that huge.  There's no way I'd say no to taking care of him but I honestly didn't know how it was going to work.  We're already fairly cramped here.  Travis' son, (Cheri's grandson) and his little dog live here with us, though they stay almost exclusively in his own room.  Cheri's other son offered to take Buddy in, which was quite a relief.  Whatever happens, I think Buddy's life will be happier now than it ever was.

Cheri and her grandson are both taking this better than I could hope.  Although she worried constantly and we all kind of suspected what was going to happen eventually, the suddenness and the awful timing of it, are still hard to grasp.  I can't imagine how this next year is going to be.  John

Sorry to hear this John my condonlences to Cheri and her grandson and you I don't really know what else to say this December has really been a terrible month. Hi David Angel and Peggy and Laila. Tim

Thank you Tim.  I know there's not much anyone can say under the circumstances.  I was never close so I'm OK.  I just can't imagine how Cheri or James feel.  As I mentioned, this is not really a big surprise, it's just the worst possible timing.  Still, both Cheri and her grandson are taking it much better than I have any right to expect.  All this November and December have been nightmares I wish I could wake up from.

The grandkids came over this evening for Christmas.  The living room was stuffed with presents and now it's just a wreck.  The most poignant part was Cheri handing out his gifts to her other son and grandson.  I don't know how she did it but it didn't seem to bother her that much.

Of course, it's always fun watching the kids tear open their gifts, and Buddy seems to have a sort of "gastric disturbance" going on which provided for some welcome comic relief.

This afternoon I dressed as Santa Claus and took a couple of things to the older lady who lives down the street as I knew she'd be alone.  She was all smiles.  I ended up spending the whole day in my Santa outfit.  Whatever else, we'll never forget this Christmas.  John

Oh my God, I'm so very sorry to hear this, John. My condolences to Cheri and all of your family. At least his suffering is over. Peggy

Oh John and CHeru I am so sorry! To lose a son and awful! And on Christmas is twice so! I am sorry he spent his life drinking. 

How religious was he and is Cheri? I will pray for his soul and that he is at peace.

Buddy, dog? Large dog?

You mentioned Cheri and her grand-son, is that Travis's son??

I cannot express my sorrow for you all. :(

Buddy is indeed, a very large and very sweet natured dog.  Cheri and the dog were very close and they really loved each other.  Because of Travis' drinking, Cheri was always worried about him.  Travis could be prone to violent outbursts and was often passed out for whole days, leaving Buddy without food or water, so Cheri visited every day to let him outside for a few minutes and make sure he had food and water.  Cheri bought all his food and since Travis's water was shut off long ago, she'd bring over jugs of water.  Continually worried about Buddy, Cheri often talked about just bringing Buddy home, but figured Travis needed the companionship and would be lost without him.

There's no way we'd give Buddy away but his time here on Christmas day made it evident that staying here would probably never work.  Both Van Gogh and James' smaller dog were terrified of him, mistaking Buddy's affection for aggression.  Both Van Gogh and James' dog "Sway" spent pretty much the whole day in their respective rooms.  Thankfully, Cheri's other son volunteered to take Buddy in.  He only lived one house away from his brother.  I'm thinking Buddy's life will be a lot happier and a lot more peaceful from now on.  I think he spent a lot of his life afraid.

I'd probably vaguely known Cheri for decades before we finally got together 14 years ago, which was when I first met Travis.  Travis had been living pretty much the same way since long before we met.  I'm not sure how many times he ended up in the hospital because of his drinking.  One doctor told him if he was going to drink himself to death, to hurry up and do it and save everybody else all this trouble.  Of course, Cheri did not take that well, but I figured that may have been exactly what he needed to hear, to drive home the point that drinking like that would eventually kill him if he didn't stop.  That may work for some people but of course, it didn't work for him.

Everybody knew where Travis was headed and it was no surprise.  Cheri constantly warned him what would happen.  In fact I think that's one of the last things she ever told him.  I just really wish it hadn't happened Christmas morning.  Travis being the way he was the entire time I knew him, I largely avoided him, which of course, was not always possible.  So, I'm not really that affected.  Cheri and her grandson however, well, I do know how it feels to lose someone you love and I'll do my best, whatever I can, to make it as easy as possible.  Last night, James took off with his dog to visit a friend, and was gone until 3:00 AM.  I imagine getting away from everything was his way of dealing with it all.

I imagine Cheri and Travis' religious beliefs were about what most people's are.  They vaguely believed in something, even if they're not sure what.  At any rate, I don't think anybody's taking any comfort from it.

We personally know the coroner.  (He liked watching me play.)  Of course, Cheri saw him that morning and they spoke a bit.  After Cheri called 911, at least 10 police showed up and Cheri quickly hustled Buddy into her car so no one would shoot him.  This morning his official report said he died of cardiovascular collapse due to acute alcoholism.  We found out this morning that cremation would cost about $2100, which was actually less than I was afraid it might be.  Cheri doesn't want any kind of funeral service and there's no need for any other expense, aside from $25 for 2 copies of the death certificate.

For as devastating as this must be, Cheri has held up amazingly well.  She impresses the hell out of me.  (She always does.)  I guess because she knew for a long time, this was the likely outcome.  John