More: Owen is the reward for surviving. In 2020, I lost both parents and was diagnosed with cancer -- all within 30 days. Now I'm adjusting to a new life that includes Owen. Fate has blessed and cursed me with the smartest Lab I've ever come across, and when you live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, you come across a few. This photo was taken not three minutes before his first car ride to meet a dear friend. A dear friend with a houseful of Norwegian antiques and Persian rugs... So, we cleaned him up.