My family and I are at home on Saturday evening in November and the phone rings. It’s Tracy saying “I found your dog”. I thought that’s funny I don’t have a dog but went along eith with it and answered “Really where is my dog”. “At Macy’s in the city” he replied. 

Long story short. We got a “Labrador “ Dixie. 5 years later I can say that Dixie is the smartest, prettiest dog I’ve ever owned. Now she might not be lab but she is a 100% purebred Dixie. 

Tracy I can’t thank you enough for the best damn dog on the planet. 

Just one more reason you are always close to me

I met "Charles" at Cy-Fair high school in Cypress, TX. It was sophomore biology class. I think we struck up a conversation talking about our watches. Almost identical rectangular gold multi-function LCD. Mine a Seiko, his an Armitron. I liked to kid him that his was the copy, but I didn't really know.

I always thought, in high school, that his name didn't fit him. I started calling him Tracy between high school and The University of Texas. It felt more like who he was.

Tracy taught me to drive a stick! It was in his beloved burgundy MGB. He cringed most of the time I was driving, but I finally got the hang of it. At least I thought I had until he let me drive his Miata years later. LOL

When we were at UT, my house got flooded by a burst pipe after our winter break. He let me crash on his dorm floor until my house could be fixed. We just grabbed a mattress out of an empty room and threw it on the floor.

I was sad when he moved to Minnesota, but we kept in touch with letters and phone calls. I remember when he told me he and Julie were dating and when he said they would be married. I'm glad I got to be in the wedding and share that memory with them.

After Tracy and Julie moved to California, I visited a couple of times, but we lost touch with each other. Marriages, kids and miles just have a way of doing that. But I always thought of him as my friend. I think he found me through Linked-In years later and we messaged there and talked on the phone for a bit. In one of the last messages, I was going to call him, but (as my wife likes to say) vicissitudes! Life just has a way of getting in the way. I was sad when I found out Tracy had passed and mad at myself for not calling him.

Even though we had grown apart, I miss him and think of him often.

I'll write more later.

Tracy was a a man that would help anybody.  They simply needed to ask and well sometimes not even ask.

Everyday I am reminded of our loss.
I swing my feet out of bed and they hit the floor that he and his son, Hunter, sanded, stained and varathaned.  
I get up and stretch and here comes the dog.  Bounding up to say good morning.  Dixie was found by Tracy and Julie while they were in San Francisco.  I got a call one night from Tracy telling me they found the dog I didn't know I was looking for.  Dixie really should have been Tracy's dog.  So easy going, friendly, and fun.
I go and wake the kids again walking over floors that he helped me re-finish.
I let the dog out and look around the backyard and see the shed that he built for me while I was on vacation out of town.
I step into the kitchen for a cup of coffee and think about the plans we made to refit the kitchen.
I head out to the garage.  There sits the mustang Convertible that Tracy helped to find, test drive and negotiate the purchase.
Heading out of the house to go to work and see the RV trailer that he put hard wood floors into and fixed the brakes.
He will be remembered and missed.  He was a kind and generous man.  He was my very dear friend.