Don't get me wrong. Donna and I love our kids, all 3 of them. They're all grown and married, and we're exceptionally proud of all of them. We always have been. But we have always taught them that we believed job #1 for a parent is to prepare kids to become responsible adults, so we were from their youngest days preparing them to leave the nest. When the last one left, we were ready. I often said, "The empty nest syndrome is just a permanent smile on your face."

Maybe we were just fooling ourselves. One of the reasons we started RVing was we wanted to be able to take our dog (a 7 lb poodle named Jean Claude - as in Jean Claude Van Dam) with us. And of course, if we were going to take the dog, we had to take at least one of our cats. Yes, we live with a dog and 4 cats, so when we go RVing, we take the dog and 2 of the cats (the other two don't travel well, so for their benefit as well as our sanity, we leave them at home).

Lately, we have been having some renovation work done on our SeeYa, and because of that, we have been been able to take our "fur kids" with us. These trips have been miserable. We miss our "fur kids."

I think there is something about a good relationship that demands it be shared. Oh, we maintain good contact with our 3 human kids and their families, but there is something, I believe, about a good relationship that wants to be shared with touch, with contact. Our "fur kids" receive all that overflowing love, and they return that love in return. It's a win-win situation.

I think that may be one reason why so many of us travel with our "fur kids." I won't say "pets," because I know our dog and cats are more than "pets." They are part of the family. And from what I have seen, many of you feel the same way about your traveling companions. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe that's just one more evidence that a good relationship is just too good to keep all to yourself.

Wayne