The Pug Life

It goes without saying that the highlight of a week-long February trip to Sweden relied largely on the friends I was visiting. But this somewhat underscores the significance of pugs.

It's a long story. To make it shorter, Clare's love of the pug parallels my love of the sausage dog. And when we were in China, she had a pug waiting for her back home in the UK. Paddy, the grumpy black pug, was later joined by Noah, the humpy happy pug. It was perhaps an emotional plea by Clare's parents to get her back in the same continent. It eventually worked.

So meeting the pugs felt epic.

Even if they were not keen to have their pictures taken, we all spent a cozy night in cooking and laughing and talking at Clare's gorgeous little studio flat. And for a moment, balance was restored.

Like I said, long distance friendships has its highs and lows. For a week, I got the highs.