Lucy Babe

Well my mom sent me an email a few days ago saying that my dog (whose back legs had been getting slightly worse for a while) was really having trouble. After a visit to the vet, it turned out that some of her vertebrae we mashing her spinal cord and paralyzing her back end at an increasingly fast pace. So she had to be put to sleep.

But that is what happens when you have a dog that is almost 14 1/2. The fact that she was so old is also the reason that I was really not surprised by how quickly she deteriorated (actually when we first got her I would have been shocked to hear that she would live this long--I thought she would have been nailed by a car long ago).

While I do have a lot of really good memories of my family's first and only dog, I must say that I really haven't seen much of my dog in the last 5 years when I have been at ND or in Taiwan. So yes, it is sad since I really loved that dog but it was also time for her to go. It will be strange next time I am home not to have her around or waiting to greet me at the door, that is when it will really sink in. I will miss my Lucy Babe.

Edit: I just got an email from my dad. I really did not expect him to be so shaken up about Lucy passing away--but it does make sense. The dog absolutely adored my dad (he gave her lots of food). But since my brother and sister left for college the dog had become unbelievably attached to my parents. Even though they would never admit it, they were very attached to her too since it kept them from being empty nesters. She became more their dog than the kids' dog. Hence, judging from my dad's email they have taken this pretty hard.