Goodbye Lucy. We’ll never forget you.

Two and a half weeks ago we took our little Lucy-Goose to the vet because she seemed to have a cold. Unfortunately it turned out to be much more serious. We knew there wasn’t a lot we could do and that we wouldn’t have much time left with her. Today we took her to the vet again and heard the painful news that because her condition had progressed worse than we’d thought it wouldn’t be wise to put off her euthanization any longer. It would be best to be today. So that was what we decided to do.

It was almost ten years ago that we brought her home. She was the most agreeable and lovable dog I’d ever known. She loved us all so much, especially Joy. Sometimes at Christmas one of the kids would lament that we hadn’t gotten Lucy anything. I’d remind them that Christmas was every day for Lucy. When we would come home from work, school, or just being out, she was more excited than we ever were on Christmas. Every. Single. Day.

She would sing “Happy Birthday” to all of our family members on their special day each year. She would make us laugh and dote on her with a flash of one of her many facial expressions that she made using only her eyes and ears. Well, sometimes with her tail too.

When we brought her home in 2010, she shocked our 11-year-old Leah who’d been begging for a dog. Our most recent high school grad, Erika, was 9 at the time. She squealed and ran to her mom the moment she saw the little black puppy in her arms. Luke was 6, so he can hardly remember life without her. And Joy–she was the one not wanting a dog. But not only did she fall in love with this one, Lucy fell hard for her too.

I also had a special relationship with her. Every day I came home she would want to go into our bedroom, climb up onto our bed using her dog stairs and have me hug her and call her a good dog. I would say, “You want to come and see me?? Yaaaahhhhhssss you wanna come see me you good little puppy!” It’s amazing how dogs aren’t human yet seem to be able to communicate human love and warmth. And Lucy could do it like no other.

See  you on the other side Lucy.

I cannot think of a single connection to our movies this week, so I’ll just get right to it…

Congratulations This is your week.

Best Actress: Alison Doody as Elsa in

Best Actor: Robert DeNiro as Al Capone in

Best Quote: “You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way!” — Sean Connery as Jim Malone in

One more thing. In the 70’s George Lucas had a dog that he’d named Indiana. He loved that dog so much, and of course, he decided to use that name for the hero in his movie in 1981.