Lilly

Yesterday morning as I was checking Facebook, the very first thing that popped up was this adorable, loving face:

It made me happy and sad at the same time because it had been so long since I have seen that face. So long since I have been able to kiss that nose. So long since I have seen her silly bottom teeth smile. This sweet girl was my baby and this Thanksgiving will mark five years since she passed away.

Instead of getting really sad that she is gone, I thought it would be fun to remember how silly she was and some of her weird quirks. She and I had such a strong relationship, so much so that I am convinced she held on long enough to be with me for a few days during my Thanksgiving break from college.

Before it gets too sad, let’s get into some funny quirks about this sweet lady!

Quirk #1: She was afraid of the wind.

I had a really great picture of her in my friend’s lap during some really heavy wind in high school. The dog would shiver and quake as if she were getting tortured. When she got really scared is when she would climb into your lap as if she only weighed 10 pounds instead of 80 or 90 pounds. Then she would just shiver some more and she squished you.

Quirk #2: She loved goldfish.

I’m not talking about the live ones, I’m talking about the snack. She and I would sit in my room with a big bag of them and share a snack together. She would get one, then I would. Should she have gotten so many? Maybe not, but it was very cute and we both enjoyed ourselves.

Quirk #3: She almost never barked.

I’m not kidding you on this one. She never really cared about other dogs, or cars, or mailmen. She didn’t get angry when people knocked on the door or rang the bell. I think in her whole life I probably heard her bark about 3-4 times. When she did bark it sounded very weird because it was really deep and didn’t really fit her personality at all. Maybe that’s why she never did….

Quirk #4: When she ran, she looked like a teeter-totter.  

The poor girl had really bad hips and as a result, she couldn’t run very well. When she would play and run around outside, she couldn’t get the motions of running down because it hurt her hips too much. This made her run in a teeter-totter type motion. Probably one of the funniest things to watch when she really got going.

Quirk #5: Her favorite song was Ay Bay Bay by Hurricane. 

You might be wondering how I know this was her favorite song let alone how I know she liked music. Well, to be honest, I just like to assume she was a music guru but I know for a fact she loved this song. I was a sophomore in high school when this song started playing on the radio. I would often call Lilly “my baby girl”. Because of that, every time the song came on I would sing it to her. It just became a thing. I would walk into the house after being gone, sing the song and she would come running. She knew I was talking to her! It got to a point where when the song came on the radio and she heard it, she would get really excited because they were playing her song.

Quirk #6: She knew when she looked good.

That girl knew how to strut. After a haircut, the groomers would always but a bandanna on her and she would be the happiest dog ever. She knew how beautiful she was and would get this funny hop in her step. She had such great confidence when she had a fun bandanna on.

Quirk #7:  No matter what she did, she always looked a little sad.

She couldn’t really control this one. The shape of her eyes just made it look like she was constantly upset about something. Even when she was excited and wagging her tail, she couldn’t quite shake off the sad eyes.

Quirk #8: When she was a baby, the lizards behind my house would tease her.

We got Lilly when I was living in Arizona. When she got used to everyone and was more comfortable being herself, she would sit at the sliding door and watch the lizards running around. Eventually, they learned how to tease her by climbing up the sliding door where she couldn’t reach them or see them as well. It would make her go crazy. I assume the lizards were having the time of their life.

Quirk #9: When she was mad at you, she would chew on something she knew was important to you and leave it by the door for you to find when you came home.

This would drive me crazy! She would chew up my favorite pens or sunglasses. Most of the time it was because she was mad at you for leaving her for too long (like when I came back home on break from college). You would walk in to see the item right at your feet and across the room she would have her butt to you and look back at you with a mixture of sass and apology. Like only she could.

Quirk #10: She never stuck her whole head out of a car window, only her nose.

Like a lot of pups out there, she loved a good car ride. She would perk right up at the idea of one and she was a great passenger. I always thought it was weird that she never wanted to stick her head out of the window, though. If I rolled the window down, she would only stick her nose out. Very relaxed and dainty. It’s like she thought she was too much of a lady to have her head out the window.

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She was the most amazing dog I have ever known. Sweet, gentle, with kind eyes. Lilly was a wonderful light in my life and I feel so grateful for the time I had with her. I know I’ll have other pets in my life, but none will be like her. And that’s okay.

Do you have a pet with some funny quirks? I would love to hear your stories!

Thank you for reading my blog! I hope you enjoyed it!

I’ll check you later!