I remember the exact day that we got Lacey. My sister Jenny and I were in Marching Band and we had a car wash that day. When we returned home, we were welcomed by an unexected visitor...a puppy! My parents surprised us with this cute little pup..a lhasa apso. She was the smallest, cutest dog I had ever seen. She did the funniest things...from hiding under the couch, to chewing up our rocking chair, and chewing on shoe laces. Her name actually came from her love of shoelaces. As Katy stated, she always had a thing for shoes. With all of us around, there were always shoes on the floor and she used them as her pillows. She was truly a Robinson...stubborn and a little clutzy. But most of all, she cared for and loved all of us equally.
Lacey hated to be alone. She always wanted to be where her family was. When we were sitting on the couch, she would want to jump up and sit with us. When we were in our beds at night, she would take turns going from bedroom to bedroom. Sometimes I would wake up to find her at the foot of my bed, staring up at me with her tail wagging. Even though I knew she would lay in the middle of the bed, I picked her up and put her in bed with me. She would always make me feel better, and somehow safer when she was there. When one of us would leave the house, she would run to the window and whine. She never wanted any of us to leave her and you could actually feel her heart breaking.
Although small, Lacey was very protective of us. She hated mailmen, UPS drivers, basically anyone that came to the door. Her bark sometimes made her seem much bigger than she actually was. However, her bark was very distinctive and depending on the pitch, we could always tell how she was feeling. It sounds weird, but it was almost like she had certain facial expressions depending on her mood. She would smile, or frown at us quite often.
As she got older, she was unable to move around as easily, but still let us know when she was hungry by licking us, or if she wanted to sit with you, or go outside. Her usual dog food was often replaced by dad's "tube steaks" or whatever leftovers we had. We found that she was sleeping a lot more. She got a little shaky. Last year the vet told us she only had a month left to live at most. Miraculously, she proved them wrong and continued to live a happy life with her family. We knew one day, she would be gone. But, none of could imagine a life without our little Lacey.
Last week I came home from work and noticed that she was laying in the kitchen and did not get up when I came home. I thought it was rather odd. My mom called to tell me that she was not doing very well, that her breathing was weird, she was having seizures, and would not eat or drink. I sat with her for awhile, and tried to give her water with a spoon. She eventually took a few licks, but that was it. A while later, she got up to walk, which was a struggle. I wanted her to eat, so I looked in the fridge and saw some ham. How shocked were we when she chowed down and ate it all up. However, she then laid back down again. Dad came over to the house and picked her up and we all sat in the living room, comforting her, and each other as best as we could. We weren't sure if she would be with us the next morning.
Friday, she was still with us! But somehow I knew that this was probably the last time we would see her. None of us were going to be home that evening, so I called dad to see if he could pick her up and take her back with him for the night. Of course he agreed. I will never forget when he took her outside and laid her in the grass. She LOVED being outside, but this time was different. She didn't get up. Finally, dad picked her up and I helped him put her in his truck. I said goodbye to her, knowing that would be the last time I would ever see her.
I was at Brian's Saturday morning when I got the phone call. I saw it was dad and let the phone ring and ring. I said to Brian, "It's my dad." Immediately he grabbed me and said "I'm here." So I picked up the phone and heard the words I was dreading. "You probably already know why I'm calling." I dealt with it as best I could, but I think now that I'm home it is harder because literally everything reminds me of her. The blankets she would lay on, where her dog bowl used to be, the gate outside..just everything. It's going to take us a long time to get over the loss of our Lacey. She was one of us. Although she is gone, she will NEVER be forgotten.
I know that she is up in heaven, playing with her new friends and thinking of her family back on earth. I hope that one day we will meet again. Actually, I KNOW that one day we will meet again. And when we do, she will look up at me with those big brown eyes, tail wagging as if to say, "What took you so long?"
Rest in peace Lacey! You will be forever loved.
