Knitwith Homespun

One day in June of 1995, I called David at work from my work, and said, “I am getting a dog today. If you want anything to say about what kind of dog we get, you will come with me. I am leaving in 10 minutes” (How obnoxious, right?)

We went to the pound. They had no puppies. We decided we wanted a puppy because we had no kids, but were planning on having them. We didn’t want a dog with an unknown history. At that point, we went to the old Craigslist, Pennysaver. There was an ad there for an Australian Shepard/German Shepard mix. To this day, I swear she is a Border Collie mix. It’s very funny that we ended up with a long hair dog, because our one and only rule was no long hair dogs. We paid $50 and named her Lucy because we wanted to come home from work and say “Lucy, I’m home!”.

Sixteen years later, its funny what you miss about a family member when they have left you. Lucy was the smartest dog in the world (we can argue about your dog later). She found a way, in her old age, to wake me up in the middle of the night so she could go out and relieve herself. That takes smarts. She would come into my room, and separate the vertical blinds and shake her head. Wow, that was a noise. It’s hard to believe I would miss that. Last night was the first full night of sleep in about 6 months. I know it couldn’t have been nice for her either.

Things change so much. We have a beautiful ten-year-old daughter. Having her, I believe, added a good 5 years to Lucy’s life. She was wonderful with Bella. She put up with the worst things. Tail pulling, tongue pulling, riding her like a horse, tugging, poking and annoying. Lucy never even looked sideways at her. She took it all and played with her when asked. Who could ask for anything more.

This morning, I woke up from a full night’s sleep (which I am not sure I liked), and went out to get my soda in the kitchen. There was no dog in the hallway right next to the front door, guarding us, like usual. This, I will miss.

Lucy, I appreciate everything you did for us. I thank you for the happiness and memories you gave us. I hope you feel better now and can sleep through the nights without having to go out. I love you and miss you. I am so sorry you suffered as long as you did and hope you can forgive me. Goodbye.