lemonade lists

Lucky passed away today (yesterday considering I'm writing this at one in the morning). He was fifteen years old. You would have liked Lucky. He was a quirky guy. He galloped when he was excited, even in his sleep. His archenemy was George, the neighbor cat. His ears flopped up and down when he walked. He liked it when people napped on the floor with him. He had beautiful dark eyes that made him look like a seal. In his later years, he started to moan and groan . I still think he started this to amuse himself. Maybe he had aspirations of being a singer. He hated baths but learned to tolerate them, even lifting his paws so I could wash between his toes. He was ruthless about sneaking food though he knew damn well it was wrong. He trembled during thunderstorms and napped on rainy days. He was a klutz. He liked playing hide & seek. If you were sad, he'd place his head on your knee. His favorite toys were tennis balls. He had horrible mouth-eye coordination. Catching tennis balls was not his forte. He had a habit of falling asleep while holding objects. He liked wearing bandanas.  So debonair, our Lucky. 

When Lucky was eight years old, Mom and Pa adopted Sammy. I was wholly against this. I didn't think Lucky would take kindly to another dog so late in life. They were wary of each other initially but grew to be friends. Lucky once locked himself in my bedroom when no one was home. Upon our return, we discovered that Sammy had tried to rescue Lucky by digging/clawing clear to the baseboards outside of my door. The hole in the carpet is still there. 

I bought two spinach knishes awhile back. The filling was ok, the crust kind of dry. I ate the filling from one and left the other on the counter. Two days later, I chucked it in the trash. Ten minutes later, I came downstairs to find Lucky snacking on the leftover knish. I yelled a bit but stopped when I saw that he too had peeled off the crust and eaten the filling. Like owner, like pet.

Lucky would sit next to me if I sat on the top step. He'd lean his body under the crook of my arm and place his snout under my chin. I regret never taking a photo of this. He's been gone for less than a day and I miss him terribly. I expect to see him whenever I walk into a room or hear the clipclop of his nails on the floor.

Also, I want to thank you for your very kind comments about Lucky. It means the world to us that so many of our friends have Lucky in their thoughts on this sad day. He loved you all.

He didn't even mind when I turned him into a hipster dog.