Random Memory - Losing Lucky
Growing up, my family always had plenty of pets. We always had dogs and sometimes we supplemented with other animals: cats, parakeets, ducks, chickens, fish, turtles, and mice. If I'm asked about a childhood pet of mine, however, I really only think of one.
When I was barely old enough to remember, we went into Flagstaff for the day as a family and returned home with a small black and white half-chihuahua, half-terrier mix that was being sold at a pet store for $19.99. We thought he was lucky to have found himself a home so quickly and we named him Lucky.
I loved him like I loved no other pet in my life. I have so many wonderful memories with him in them. He had 14 good long years in him and was with us until I was 18.
The one memory in particular that came back to me tonight after reading a friend's post on flickr was a time when I was in Jr. High, in 7th grade. School let out early one day, and instead of sticking around and waiting for our bus, a friend and I decided to walk over to the elementary school next door and catch the bus with the younger kids (it was a small town - things like this were okay because everyone knew everyone).
I arrived home, eager as always to have Lucky excitedly greet me at the door. Only that day he didn't. He wasn't anywhere in the house. He wasn't anywhere in the backyard. He wasn't anywhere around my house. I was home alone and completely freaked out.
I went to my friend's house and asked if she wanted to help me look for him and we commenced an exhaustive search of the neighborhood.
Sad and tired, we returned home to find my mom pulling into the driveway with Lucky in the passenger seat. My mom was unexpectedly off of work that afternoon and had taken Lucky to school to pick me up on my early release day as a surprise. She had waited by the Jr. High buses until all the kids were gone and then figured I must've gotten on a bus without her seeing, so she finally gave up.
My mom had never done anything like that before, and never did again. It would've been great, that moment of seeing them there at the school. I'm sad that it never happened.
When I was barely old enough to remember, we went into Flagstaff for the day as a family and returned home with a small black and white half-chihuahua, half-terrier mix that was being sold at a pet store for $19.99. We thought he was lucky to have found himself a home so quickly and we named him Lucky.
I loved him like I loved no other pet in my life. I have so many wonderful memories with him in them. He had 14 good long years in him and was with us until I was 18.
The one memory in particular that came back to me tonight after reading a friend's post on flickr was a time when I was in Jr. High, in 7th grade. School let out early one day, and instead of sticking around and waiting for our bus, a friend and I decided to walk over to the elementary school next door and catch the bus with the younger kids (it was a small town - things like this were okay because everyone knew everyone).
I arrived home, eager as always to have Lucky excitedly greet me at the door. Only that day he didn't. He wasn't anywhere in the house. He wasn't anywhere in the backyard. He wasn't anywhere around my house. I was home alone and completely freaked out.
I went to my friend's house and asked if she wanted to help me look for him and we commenced an exhaustive search of the neighborhood.
Sad and tired, we returned home to find my mom pulling into the driveway with Lucky in the passenger seat. My mom was unexpectedly off of work that afternoon and had taken Lucky to school to pick me up on my early release day as a surprise. She had waited by the Jr. High buses until all the kids were gone and then figured I must've gotten on a bus without her seeing, so she finally gave up.
My mom had never done anything like that before, and never did again. It would've been great, that moment of seeing them there at the school. I'm sad that it never happened.