lucy

last Wednesday was a very sad day.
it has taken me this many days to get through this post.

I lost my best little friend. 

My very dear friends, Anna and Eric, got me the best gift anyone has ever given me for my 21^st birthday in 2004.  My dog, Lucy.  They told me they wanted to get me a dog, and then I spent the next few weeks visiting shelters to find the perfect friend.  During my search, a friend adopted a beagle puppy from a no-kill shelter near where I was living in Greeley, Colorado.  He told me there were a lot more there who needed homes, because they had confiscated something like 60+ beagles from a woman who was hoarding dogs.  I grew up with a beagle, so this idea felt right immediately.  We went to the shelter and saw the beagles all together in a cage.  Lucy was quietly sitting and looking straight up at me while the others barked and danced around her.  She was the smallest, and quietest, and I knew she was mine instantly. 

I think sometimes beagles have a bad reputation because they “all chew everything” or “bark and howl constantly” or “get into the trash” or “never settle down”.  These things were never true for Lucy.  She was house-trained almost immediately, I only remember her chewing up one thing: a pointy purple pump shoe which I wore to a Prince concert (maybe she was trying to tell me something), and she NEVER barked.  Like it was months before I ever even heard her bark, and it sounded so pathetic and rusty.  Later, she only ever barked if she felt threatened or startled, or was being protective of us. 

She was about 8 months old when I got her.  Lucy was one of my favorite names, and was calling to me when I got the puppy.  I loved “I Love Lucy” growing up, I like the Beatles, and I was learning about Australopithecus in my anthropology class at the time.  It was a perfect fit.  Every friend I had fell in love with Lucy instantly.  She was never aggressive, and was always playful and cuddly, plus tiny and adorable.  It was impossible to not love her. 

Eventually, my living situation changed and didn’t allow for a pet.  Thankfully, my parents offered to let her live with them.  Lucy moved to Utah and I was devastated.  The good news was she had a giant backyard for her adventures, and lots of grand kids to chase her around.  She loved the kids and the kids loved her.

When I moved to Utah and lived with my parents temporarily, we were reunited.  She had truly become a family dog, but it never got old knowing that she was just a little extra excited when I came home or when she saw me.  Dogs are unlike anyone else.  They love so purely and unconditionally.  Nobody else can barely contain themselves when you get home from work day after day, and follow you from room to room because they would always rather be inches from you than anywhere else. 

The universe must have known that I wouldn't have been able to handle a long sickness, or ever knowing that she was suffering for any length of time, because there were only about 90 minutes between the time we thought something was wrong, and when she was gone.  It was so sudden, but we are grateful that it was quick.  I miss her already.  I don't know when I'll stop being this sad when I think about her, but

• I'm glad we had her for 7 really good years.
• I'm glad Matt got to meet her and spend time with her.
• I'm glad she was surrounded by her family when the time came, and we said goodbye.

and

• I'm really glad that all dogs go to heaven.