Our Black Lexus...

Today is an especially gloomy day, and the rainy dismal weather seems fitting... our little Lexi has gone to doggie heaven. That's the one thing that stinks about getting older and celebrating our own birthdays: the ones we love age right along with us. I don't understand how dogs become part of the family, but they do. They wag and chew and bark their way in our hearts.

Lexi was my childhood pet, the only one I can remember from start to finish - from the time we got her as a puppy until her more recent elderly years. I wish I had a picture of her from when we first brought her home. She was a really tiny black ball of fur with one little white stripe down her chest. She was so small she couldn't even jump up on our back porch after she went out into the yard to go to the bathroom. We got her from one of my sister's classmates in elementary school. (Jordan is now a sophomore in college, so that tells you how long Lexi has been around.) We went out to Shelby's house "just to look" at the puppies her family was giving away. My dad should have known that you can't take your wife and two young daughters "just to look" at puppies. You are walking away with one of them, no doubt about it. Maybe he did know that from the get-go but decided to act like it wasn't going to happen. Dad's a softie when it comes to animals, I mean come on, he's a veterinarian. Anyway, I remember trying to come up with a name for our new pup. Eventually, we settled on Lexus (Lexi for short) because it would be as close as our family would get to owning a black Lexus car.

Some of my most vivid memories from Lexi's crazy adolescent phase involve the things she chewed and subsequently destroyed - my leather sandals, our trampoline cover, souvenirs from Disney World, a few supposedly indestructible Kong toys. She was a handful, probably two handfuls, but she was just so lovable. You couldn't stay mad at her for long.

She was also notorious for running around the neighborhood whenever she got the chance to bolt out the front door. When Matt came to my house to pick me up for our first official date (aka, my sixteenth birthday) he opened the front door and Lexi shot right past him. Poor Matthew, all nervous and prepared with a bouquet of flowers, had to help me and my mom chase Lexi around the cul-de-sac. 

Once she settled into her adult life, you couldn't have asked for a better companion. We would poke fun at her for being a knot-head because she wasn't the brightest, and she had a literal knot on her head where her bony skull stuck out. She had many a nickname. For a while, she was fondly known as "BBAS" (pronounced "bee-bass") because she was Big, Black, And Stupid. Of course, we meant that in the most respectful way possible. Often, she was Lexi Schmexi or Lexi Loodle. She didn't care. She befriended all the other pets that we added to our brood, including Bullitt (despite his misguided attempts at getting her to play with him.) It was sad to see that she was slowing down tremendously over the past couple of years, but that sweet girl stayed sweet, wagging her tail til the very end.

I'm sorry if this is either incredibly depressing or overly dramatic to those of you reading this, but I guess it's my way of coping for not being there with her. I think it's better that I didn't have to accompany her on the long car ride to the clinic. She really loved going for car rides. Yesterday, I got to Skype with her (thanks to my mom) and to see her one last time. Obviously, life goes on, and worse things happen every day. I just thought I could take a minute to give Lexi some love; Lord knows she gave us more.

Like I said, she loved car rides. As soon as she heard those words, she was waiting at the door to go.

Back in 2009 at the bark park. She didn't really want to socialize with the other dogs, but there were so many great smells to be sniffed!

A day or two before we left to move to England. She was supervising as we were packing.

Her and her newest best buddy, Bullitt. They were attached at the hip most days.

And finally, this one was also taken while we were packing. She liked warming up in the sunshine from the window. She also liked guarding the tennis ball, even if she wasn't going to play with it. I think it was her way of claiming her rightful place as the matriarch among the other animals. Haha.

I love you, Lexi. I missed you as soon as I left the house to go to the airport, and I'll miss you even more when I get back and you're not there. I will reminisce about all our time together and cherish it always. Thanks for so many years of being my friend!