Thank you

Thank you, everyone, for your comments and sympathy over the loss of my best friend, my constant companion of the last 11 years, my Lucy.

Friday night and Saturday morning were absolutely brutal and I was unprepared for the overwhelming feelings of grief.  Family and friends have been so supportive and even Thing 1's cronies came to spend time with Lucy on her last day and pay their respects.  One at a time, they knelt down and hugged her and petted her and told her what a good girl she was.

So last night, Thing 2 and I were watching TV, the menfolk had gone racing, and all of a sudden she grabs the remote, hits the Mute button and says, "Listen!"  Coming from Lucy's favorite napping spot in the dining room was the familiar sound of a dog snoring, breathing and shifting its body against the baseboards.  We just sat there staring at each other, listening all wide eyed with disbelief although I don't know why we'd be shocked because we're kind of used to hearing and seeing deceased family members hanging around but I guess we just weren't expecting this so soon.

And then at 4:24am this morning (I checked the time) I was woken up by the familiar sound of a dog coming through the dog door, which is interesting since the security cover has been on since Friday night, and quietly walking down the hall toward the bedroom.  We have hardwood floors so the clack of claws is very distinctive and the floorboards squeak. The sounds stopped before reaching the turn toward my room, which is not surprising because nocturnal footsteps always stop before the turn toward my room.  I lay there listening and, I'll admit, a little bit unnerved.  I didn't hear anything else and went back to sleep.

I may not SEE Lucy anymore but she's still here with me.