This is my new favorite picture of Lucy. She's lost in thought and looks so regal. Although I'd like to think she is thinking great thoughts of vast importance, she is probably reliving the last treat she had (which was very recently. We went to the Petco snack bar yesterday.) or the last squirrel she chased (which was quite a while ago. There aren't very many squirrels in California and they are very different from Lowcountry squirrels.)
Anyway, this photo made me think of when Lucy first came to live with me about 4 1/2 years ago. At that time my sweet Izzy was still alive but in failing health. Izzy was the greatest dog that ever lived. So much so, that even people with dogs marveled at what an amazing dog he was. He really wasn't a dog. He was a person trapped inside a dog's body.
Izzy was adopted and he was fine with it. Very well adjusted. I adopted him when he was six years old. His family had to give him up b/c the father had asthma. I really always thought it was because they had a new baby but regardless, I was the lucky beneficiary. From the first night he was in my apartment he was at home. He never looked back.
About a year and a half later I decided to move to Prague and there was no question that Izzy was going with me. He loved it and it loved him. He learned to speak a little Czech. I would say
Dobry Pesku (good dog) and
P'od Sem (come here - which I probably spelled totally wrong b/c I can't remember how to spell it) and he knew what I was saying. I used to always say that years from now, no one would remember me but they would always remember the little dog with a person's soul.
Izzy lived to be 17-years-old and I swear he only hung on that long because he knew I couldn't live without him. He waited until Lucy was comfortably ensconced in the house and he knew I wouldn't be alone. Call me crazy but I believe that.
So when Lucy came to live with me, she was a stray and showed up on my doorstep. I told her that she was on a trial basis and she had to get along with Izzy in order to stay. Looking back, I think I was afraid that I couldn't give her the love she needed b/c all my love went to Izzy. I remember thinking there was no way another dog could ever hold the same spot in my heart and I didn't know if it would be fair to her because I knew she needed a lot of affection and attention.
Well, Lucy made herself comfortable and while she and Izzy didn't become playmates, they become pals. They would sit on the bed next to each other and when Izzy got so sick he couldn't get out of his bed on his own, Lucy would lie down next to him. She didn't eat for a week when he died.
I still miss my Izzy but I shake my head in wonder when I think that I even questioned whether I could love Lucy as much as I loved Izzy. I look at her sleeping on my bed and I marvel that God could create a creature that is made wholly of pure goodness and love. There is nothing malicious or mean or cruel or cunning in her whole being. Just sweetness and affection. I love her with all my heart. I don't know what I would do without her. And while, she doesn't replace my Izzy, I was happy to find that I had enough spots in my heart for the both of them.
By popular demand, OK, one person requested it, but here is the picture of Izzy with the smokestacks of Holesovice and the beautiful Prague sky in the background. This was taken by Richard Giles on the terrace of my flat in Prague when Richard was dogsitting.
