Our Little Lolita 1999-2010

I will always remember the day Lola came into our lives. We worked in a less than stellar part of town and we worked long hours. We gave up trying to get home in tome to feed and potty our dogs Sophia and Nora and we just took them to work with us. Sophia the black and white Cocker Spaniel and Nora the Dalmatian.

One day the postman came in and told us our Dalmatian was out in the alley hiding in the tall grass. Except our Dalmatian was in the office with me. So Lyle went out and found the saddest shivering little puppy hiding in the alley. He picked her and to carry her in and she peed on him. Once he got her in the office she stood at the exit door and peed again. He kept coaxing her out into the center of the office and trying to assure her that it would all be fine.

He kept trying to get me to come out from my desk and play with her and I kept refusing. Finally I told him, "Look, if I touch that dog, we are going to keep that dog. And we already have two dogs and we don't need three."

He replied, "Just come and play with her." and then with the most beautiful twinkle in his eye, he added "If we had three dogs would that be so bad?"

Lola 4 month old with Sophia and Nora.

A week later Lyle asked me what I wanted for our tenth anniversary and I said, "Lola." I begged him to let us keep her and in the end he gave in and she was my gift from him that year. But every rescue dog knows exactly who brought them in from the cold and Lola was keenly devoted to Lyle.

Six years ago she had kidney failure and instead of putting a down payment on a house, we brought her back from the brink. For a year I would call for her to come to dinner, "House down payment, Dinner!" And let me tell you that every dollar we spent to keep her an additional 6 years was worth it. I would never change a thing.

This year her heart began to give up and we were told in late August that we had a week or less with her. We gave it our all and we stretched that week to two months. The last few days around her were difficult watching our once vibrant little princess slow down into an elderly senior dog.

We knew the end was approaching and we hoped for an easy gentle passing at home. Early Monday morning she passed away. Held in Lyle's lap with me petting her head and Cooper laying next to me. We told her how much we loved her and we have been crying every since.

Though I know we will survive, the pain is devastating. She was boundless joy and could lure you into a spooning nap with a look of her eye. She was my gift and Lyle's shadow. Right now the joy she filled our hearts with is left with an empty hole and we are doing our best to remember the brightest of times with her.