Again that time of year has arrived when painful memories wash over me — memories of when Kona was suffering through her last days on Earth. To remediate that pain as much as possible, I like to think back to our good times together — and there were so many of them. We both liked to travel and one of our trips took us to Disney World — here Kona was standing in front of Cinderella Castle, the central focal point at the Magic Kingdom. You can certainly tell by her smile that Kona was very much enjoying our little adventure.

As most of you probably know, Disney World covers 27,258 acres, housing 27 themed resort hotels, nine non–Disney hotels, four theme parks, two water parks, several golf courses, a camping resort, and other entertainment venues. We did not hit every one of those attractions but we did play golf as you might guess from our golf shirts.

Afterward, we decided to enjoy a nice dinner at one of the restaurants at the Grand Floridian as a wonderful way to cap off the day. I do not recall which restaurant we patronized but it was definitely fine dining. And as you can tell, much love was shared there.

On a different trip we visited my parents in Maryland many miles away from Florida. On a cool windy day, we took a short trip to Crisfield, a town that sits on the bank of the Chesapeake Bay. It is a place built on seafood — figuratively because of the number of wholesale seafood dealers and the fishermen who supply them — and literally because the downtown area is built on top of oyster shells that extended the dry land into the Bay.

Our main objective was to visit one of my parents' favorite restaurants, Captain's Galley, a seafood restaurant that overlooked the harbor. One of their menu items was an incredible crab cake, fashioned exclusively of the large back-fin meat of the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab. SO GOOD!

Sad to say, the Captain's Galley in Crisfield is no more — replaced by condominiums. But all is not lost, they have a restaurant (same name, same menu) in nearby Ocean City, MD with the same wonderful crab cakes.

It is also sad to say that these three people who were such a big part of my life are all gone as well — but I'm happy to say that the love doesn't die — I miss them all tremendously.

Which brings me back to my common refrain to remind you to cherish your every moment with loved ones — you never know how many of those moments the fates will allow.