Roger.

Roger.

There is alot to love about Roger.

Of course, to the indiscriminate eye, one might consider this man to be a gruff old grump unwilling or unable to crack a smile.

Say it isn't so! Indeed ~ the man who has graced my mother's side for the past 22 years has a heart as large as Texas. He just doesn't want you to know it.

One can't help but notice, however, as his gruff facade gives way to pleasant companionship to a DNA grouping that he was not directly responsible for creating that he has taken us all in as his own anyway. Here he is with my nephew, Joshua:

See that smile tucked near his chin? Yeah. That's Rog. Grinning to himself most times, smiling and laughing out loud in hearty tones that reverberate around the room. Roger has been good for my Mom. He brought back laughter to her world that crashed many years ago.

He's showered her with love and affection; taken her on travels of adventure - er, wait. Perhaps it was my Mom who was taking him . . .but I digress.

The MilkMan-turned-husband took up her brood and the subsequent children thereof and became Grandpa Rog without hesitation. His fun-loving ways endear him to all.

- But he doesn't want to show it.

Nope. As the children of our Mother, it is up to us to see past the formidible frown of false reflection and see him for who he really is: A Softie.

Never has Mr. Softie shown his truer colors than when the blizzard hit. Frank, the neighborhood cat was given refuge in the garage, complete with a bed and a litterbox. That was, of course, after he stole a few furtive strokes of Roggie-Love on the recliner. :D

Yet nothing - absolutely NOTHING - prepared me for the dispicable act of shrewd traitory that occured when the DellDog hit the Nebraska scene:

Do you see that?

Yes! THAT! *MY* dog ~ lounging comfortably - ON PURPOSE - in the lap of that gruff-old-self-proclaimed-naysayer-of-an-animal-lover ~

The DellDog: Soaking up the Roggie-Love like the rest of us.

:sigh: Can ya blame him?

:D