Lucky

I realized tonight that I never wrote my post about our dog Lucky who passed away a few weeks ago.  I wanted to share some of my memories and pictures of Lucky with you.  We were very blessed as a family to have Lucky in our lives.

Lucky chose us in the fall of 1998.  I had recently been in a bad car accident and had broken both of my arms.  Lucky showed up on our porch and wouldn’t leave for a week.  Mom and Dad contacted the vets and the pound and put up signs trying to find the owner but no one claimed her.  So, as a 14 year old girl with at least splints still on her arms if not more, I begged my Daddy to keep her.  And what Dad in his right mind could turn down a daughter in that situation?!?! Definitely not my sweet Dad!  🙂

We determined that Lucky was abandoned at the wildlife refuge that was sort of close to our house.  At that time my brother was playing pick up baseball games in the lot next to our house a lot so there were always people outside.  I’m sure Lucky just found people who were nice to her and decided to adopt us.  I’m so glad that she did!  

I don’t remember much about her interaction with Peanut, our Yorkshire Terrier that we got when I was in fourth grade, but there was definitely no roughhousing like Luca and Lucky did.  But there was also no fighting.  Lucky was such a good dog!  She learned to sit very quickly and slept out on the back porch at night.  She was small at that point and would crawl on my lap and lick me.  She always loved to be rubbed!

Over the years we moved houses and learned new things about Lucky.  Like that she wouldn’t go up steps inside.  She had no problems with porch steps outside but she wouldn’t go upstairs inside the house.  I think she was so grateful that Mom and Dad put the elevator in when they first moved in the house instead of waiting so that she got to be included when everyone was upstairs!

One morning after I had already gone to college Mom opened the back door to find a “surprise” that Lucky had left for her.  Due to the upcoming Easter season I won’t reveal what kind of animal she had left for Mom, but let’s just say that Lucky was protecting her yard from those evil animals that hop!  As I’ve heard the story Mom yelled and Dad and Charlie came and laughed, but I wasn’t there so I’m not exactly sure what happened.  🙂

Lucky loved taking walks even though when we first got her she wouldn’t go more than two steps on a leash.  Eventually she grew to love the time that she spent on walks and got so well trained that she was pretty good without a leash.  I say pretty good because during one family gathering over the past few years she got out on the golf course and Jason and Sam had to go chase her down.  She was enjoying herself on the course and wouldn’t come back and so Jason had to pick her up and carry her like a baby in his arms all the way back to the house!  Dad would let her out the front at night and she also liked to chase deer if there were any anywhere near the house!

Lucky and Luca were a sight to be seen.  Lucky was about 8 years older than Luca and Luca is a lot more of a high energy dog.  Every time Luca would see Lucky he would start jumping on her and licking her.  They would end up dancing around in circles with each other.  I think Lucky was trying to find an escape but Luca was enjoying every minute of it.  After Lucky died Jason told me that Lucky was probably in heaven telling Peanut about this crazy new dog that the family has.  I think that’s probably true!

Lucky meant a lot to our family and she is very much missed.  We were blessed to have her with our family for so long.  She was energetic and playful and loved to run around and play with you.  But she also loved to just sit at your feet and have you rub her.  Dogs do become a part of your family and it’s hard when they leave.  But I think, at least to me, Lucky reminded me that there’s always good that comes after a storm and that all you need is a loving family to keep you happy.