August 4, 2026
Goodbye, dear little Lucy.
Cynthia's pup, Lucy, has been with her since before birth. She had laid claim to a black pup from the litter and she was there when Lucy emerged, looking like a little black stick of butter. Cynthia carried puppy Lucy around a LOT in the moby wrap normally used for human puppies (um, "babies") and took her to agility and other training as she got older. Don't even get me started about the big efforts & expense Cynthia went through to keep her in the best health.
When I met Lucy a decade ago, she was very reluctant to be touched by strangers, but she has since made a LOT of friends and sat in a lot of laps, but she never liked other dogs much... and wanted to bark at cats and hunt rodents. She LOVED living on a sailboat and treated it as an agility course, first racing to the bow, jumping onto the cabin roof, then racing back to the cockpit. She learned to enjoy sailing, although she preferred it to be fairly stable and mostly sat in a lap during the roughest weather. And she loved fresh-caught bluefish, hot from the pan. And she would eat softshell clams by the dozen, although her digestion rebelled: with her weight a dozen clams is like me eating about 300!
Lucy went through five other dogs: Tio, who trained her. Monty, who wanted to play with her, but respected her space. Bandit, who went off to live with a new family that fell in love with him. Kayno, who she actually liked since he was as small as she! (and went back to her owner... who actually got back on her feet when she did not have the dog to care for and they are doing well now!). And Chloe, who is alone at home while Cynthia is at work now and not liking it, even though she had to walk on eggshells around Lucy.
And now, at 15-years and a bit, it is over. Lucy went to sleep peacefully, snuggled in the moby wrap on Cynthia's chest, something Lucy still obviously loved after all these years, and we laid her to rest beside the stuffed squirrel she has had since puppyhood. I am glad Cynthia still has Chloe rather than being dog-less, but the Lucy-shaped hole in her life will take time to heal...
Here is an old blog post that Lucy wrote: https://hydrophiliapow.blogspot.com/2019/07/lucys-view.html
Lucy had a great life and added a lot to the world. She will be missed.
I saw a wonderful cartoon with an old man walking beside Death. "Yes, you will be reunited with all your dogs" Death assured him. Sounds good to me.
Here is an old pic of Lucy with the squirrel and in the Moby wrap:
