I blame this all on my darling husband. When I met the dear confirmed bachelor, he had a dog...Lucky. We always thought Lucky was a mixed mutt...Pembroke Welsh Corgi mixed with lots and lots of attitude. Lucky had protected my then-boyfriend, mostly from dating and girlfriends. From Lucky's perspective, a girlfriend around could be nothing but trouble...especially for him!
Lucky had been rescued. He was found wandering around an apartment complex. He would disappear for a few days at a time as someone fell in love with his beautiful face and proud demeanor. But love would wane to displeasure as dear Lucky would snap at them as they bent down to pet him, or tear through sets of blinds, or eat their furniture and anything else that could bear the brunt of his frustrations.
Until Thad saw him again one day. Could he (the confirmed bachelor) make a commitment? Commit to this beautiful dog who needed him (truth be told, Thad needed Lucky as much as Lucky needed Thad)? Thad first took him to the animal shelter, just in case someone had lost him. After the mandatory 3 day wait, Thad went back and brought Lucky home. I've heard it did not go well. Lucky would pace all night, through the vertical blinds, and whine. After all, he had been taking care of himself it the great outdoors...why was he stuck in this apartment? He settled in, learning to trust that Thad was taking care of his best interests. Over time, it became apparent that dear Lucky must have been mistreated at some point. Getting over that was something that took years to overcome.
Over the next few years, Lucky's life changed. Thad moved from Texas to Tennessee, Lucky had his first airline flight and ran off a few errant girlfriends along the way. Until I came along. Much to Lucky's initial dismay, I loved the human he had adopted. Oh, he didn't make it easy. In fact, he scared the living heck out of me more than once. And it didn't make things any better that I was a CAT person...not a DOG person. I'd already had to make an ER trip once in my life because of a dog. I didn't really understand them. But I loved Thad...and Lucky was a part of the package.
Not only did Lucky get me as the part of the "Let's Be a Family Package", he got an 8-year old boy. Geeezzzzzzzzz...I just know he was thinking that THIS was worse than a girlfriend. Lucky managed pretty well in this newly-formed family. Oh, there were moments where we all worried. Like the time Lucky decided that this little boy was a little too close to his face, and promptly pierced his ear. Or when we came home to find Lucky standing on top of the dining room table eating a chocolate Garfield...and living to tell the tale. I can remember being frustrated by these things. Easy to do when you have two adults working 50 hours a week, a small child, and all that life entails.
We took Lucky on our grand life adventure from Tennessee to Missouri to Florida then Texas. He handled every move easily, to our surprise. More importantly, he was our son's protector and best friend. When day care was for babies, Lucky was waiting by the door when the bus dropped off our son. I never had to worry that someone would come in and hurt him; I knew Lucky would not allow it! Over the years, there were times when Lucky was the one who needed care by our son...and he would clean up when he got sick, or make sure he was fed when we were late, or walk him if we were out of town.
Time goes by so quickly. The 8-year-old was 17 when he left for college. Thad and I continued to work. Lucky waited on us every day. As he got older, boarding him left him tired and confused. Even taking him on daytrips made him car sick. We decided no more...we would not travel if we had to board Lucky. We never really knew Lucky's exact age. The vet estimated it when he was young. At 16 years old, we noticed that Lucky was slowing down. Even taking him for a walk was a task; he just did not want to go. Lucky was sick. Very sick. We thought it was old age, and in many respects it was. He had been treated for arthritis, but this was worse. We took him to the vet. She said he only had days left. We made the decision that we would not allow him to suffer or die alone. We set the time and took him in together. We held him, fed him chocolate, and walked him to Heaven's Door. And we cried.
We came home. And we cried. The heartbeat of our home was gone...how could we have not known how much Lucky gave to us? We swore we would never, ever go through the heartbreak again. Ever. And every day, we cried.
Lucky's cremains sit in an elegant urn on our mantle, along with a photo and his collar. We thought about him every day. And our hearts ached. Over a two year span, Thad and I lost our fathers, he lost a brother, we lost our beloved Lucky, I lost 2 jobs, and I lost my best friend. It was the last one that broke the camel's back.
After crying for days, Thad saw me looking a puppy pictures on the internet....Pembroke Welsh Corgis. It had been more than a year since Lucky had gone, and it wasn't the first time I had actually looked at puppies. Every time, Thad would say, "No. Absolutely not. Never again." That day was different. It was the day before Valentine's Day. Thad saw the puppy I was looking at...a little tri-color...and said, "If you are going to get one, you had better do it quickly before I change my mind."
And that is how Blaze came along!
ra-look"! LOL! 
ra-look"! LOL! 
