Goodbye Lily, You Are Loved and Missed

Post date: Feb 19, 2011 7:56:41 PM

We just had to end the life of a family member, and I am sad. Lily was a great and tender dog, she was in full possession of a soul. I first met her when I went on my first date with Leslie, now my wife. I went over to pick her up and there she was in all her glory, Lily I mean. Tail wagging, mouth open, panting and couldn't wait to smell me. I was terrified and tried to not show it, I love dogs but Lily was a Pit Bull. I had been taught to be fearful, and apprehensive around this dangerous breed of dog. I had heard about all of the stories about Pit Bulls attacking, killing, and fighting. I had no idea why people would have them, and yet there she was all 80 pounds of her; red and happy to see me.

Leslie was busy corralling her other dog, the real nightmare Murphy who is a 25 pound Beagle/Boston. She let Lily come up and meet me, pensive, I started to pet her. She was nice, sniffing me and no doubt checking out the scent of Rufus that was still on me from my house. I was kind of in shock, not ever being around a dog of that breed and hearing all of the bad stuff about them. Lily didn't seem like a mean dog, or one that would attack at the drop of a hat. She was...nice. A happy, pleasant dog; not even overbearing like I was waiting for. I saw her more and more as my relationship with Leslie grew, I really grew to like her and her me. It was a great dog/human relationship, she was fun! Lily was always glad to see me, she loved to get pet and the hair on her back would bristle up when she was really into it. I introduced her to my daughter and they hit it off, Lily seemed to know Brooklyn was smaller and gave her space. Brooklyn didn't have all of the preconceived notions about Pit Bulls and didn't give Lily much space at all. Lily was super patient, and dealt with my daughter's over-loving nature with animals. I was never worried once.

Lily was 12 and a half years old when we put her down today, she had lived a full and happy life. I really grew to love her, she was always patient and wanting of pets. Even when she was old she would try to play, from time to time she would do some "crazy laps" around our back yard playing like she was 3 years old again. She would shake the rope toy so hard she would fall down, take a break and do it again! Looking back I am sad, but I have a smile on my face as I write this because I got to know a great dog. She was everything I would want in a dog and I thank her for teaching me about not judging a book by its cover or a dog by its breed.

Here are a couple of pics of Lily, I miss her already.....

This quote is actually a great tribute to Lily, she embodies this more than a lot of humans I know...

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

--Winston Churchill