Saying Goodbye To Summer 2012

by Susan Santangelo Labor Day weekend here on Cape Cod. A time for locals to reclaim our beaches, make left turns on busy streets (luxury!), visit and enjoy local restaurants before many of them close up for the season, and say goodbye to things that we love. For me, the summer of 2012 was filled with incredible highs and incredible lows. The "highest high" came with the publication of my third Baby Boomer mystery, Marriage Can Be Murder,which has received five-star reviews and is selling so well it's almost embarrassing. I'm very grateful. But summer was also filled with much sadness, as we had to let our 16-year-old English cocker, Tucker, go. Tucker was a feisty guy who always made his presence known in our home -- very talkative, friendly, and, well, he'd eat just about anything. Including a loaf of bread I'd left too close to the edge of a kitchen counter (wrapper and all!). When I started this adventure called the Baby Boomer mysteries, there were 3 English cockers in our lives: Tillie, Lucy, and Tucker. We had to let Tillie go 4 years ago. And then there were 2 We added our boy Boomer to the pack 2 1/2 years ago. I know he kept the other two on their toes (paws?) for quite a while. Then we had to let Lucy go last spring, although I promised her she'd always be in my books. And now, Tucker is gone on his "big break." And the house, with only one dog, is very quiet. It's always too soon to say goodbye to someone you love.