POST by JED

Today´s post is a hard one for me. As a parent, to a beautiful young lady, who is always working so diligently for the cause to which we´ve committed, it is difficult to broach the subject of loss. 

Francesca is a special girl, with a big heart. I know she is a pretty lass, people always tell me that. Yet I am more focused on what makes her tick. After all, our looks come-and-go with such force, that it is no wonder to me we become wrinkled in old age (beauty really is only skin deep). As my Gran says “it takes 18 years to get to 18, 5 years to get to 30, and 5 minutes to get to 100”.

I love Francesca´s compassion for those around her, which is evidenced to me by the way in which she prays. She is committed to Christ, and values his efforts for humanity, when he gave himself on the cross so that those he loved, us, could be reunited with him forever, in eternity.

Living on the other-side-of-the-World is no easy task for a 14 year old and presents multiple challenges. Some of you may have experienced the effort and struggle that loving from-a-distance takes. It can be hard at times.

Franesca has family members in Bristol (UK), Rochester (New York, USA), Brisbane and Canberra (Australia). She rarely gets to visit with them, to drop-in and say hello, to plan dinner dates, have people come for special occasions, and so-forth.

In some ways it is easier for Rafael. He doesn´t remember having access to extended family members. But Francesca does, and it is a factor of life that can be heartbreaking at times to discuss with a teenage daughter, who is so often filled with emotions that I never knew existed (or thought possible! I mean, even Liz is speechless at times! And that really is something!!!).

To ease the burden, when we arrived in Guadalajara, Mexico, (some three and a half years ago) we bought Francesca a puppy. Francesca is a glass half-full kind of girl (my brother always says, cheeky rat-bag that he is, that he “didn´t ask for a glass of anything, (he) I asked for something to eat…”), who just loves living life. And so, she called her puppy, “Lucky”.

The name was completely her choice, and trust me, she had all sorts of suggestions. Lorenzy wanted to call the dog “Betsy”. Rafael wanted to call the dog “Spot” (the dear dog didn´t even have one, but there is the brain of a 4 year old). Sezni wanted to call the dog “Dinner”. I usually lovingly referred to her as “bitch” (for she was one, and everybody knew it).

Francesca felt completely lucky to have this gorgeous beast of a new family member (if you´ve ever seen a Basset Hound, you´ll know that they´re not known for their “good lookingness”, but rather for their loyalty). The dog really was the one who was Lucky, because Francesca was the best owner a dog could ever desire. She transferred all of her love, affection and devotion onto that dear little puppy, ugly as she was (just my opinion), and it was all returned, and then some.  

We immediately knew that we had a “Brien” on our hands (no, not because she was ugly). Lucky would cry as soon as we left the house for school in the morning and would still be crying (howling) when we returned in the evening.

Basset Hounds become clinically depressed when separated from their family and Lucky was no exception. Our neighbours became clinically psychotic (not something new for us, you only had to have visited us in our house in Australia to know this) and would often throw hot water on Lucky, or hard objects at her, just to shut the dear up. It never worked… (much like trying to stop Liz from talking at times... NOTHING WORKS!!!)

We had hundreds of beautiful moments with Lucky. We went for many walks together in the park. We took her regularly to buy grocery items at the shops. We flew with the poppit from Mexico City, to Miami and then on to Managua. (Which is an adventure for yet another post, but LET ME TELL YOU!!! I was the one stuck with Lucky throughout this voyage. We spent the night together in Miami International Airport and I wanted to drive my foot lovingly up her behind – for she whined ALL NIGHT LOOOOOONG!!!)

I think Fran will agree with me when I say that the most beautiful time together was when Lucky had pups. (though not the conception part… That was not beautiful… That time involved me, a big overweight Mexican man, his drooling dog, the rooftop, and 20 minutes of holding Lucky down whilst she was being “serviced”. And the face she gave me, OH THE FACE!!! Think “Basset Hound”… Trust me, I´m still having therapy…)

We arrived home to one of the pups already having been born. The house flew into a commotion, with the female teachers from next-door racing in to help. Out the pups popped, one after the other. I think there were five in total. Black and white little balls of fluff! There´s nothing more special than a wee-little pup… Though one must put emphasis on the wee part. For wee they did. The kids had promised me they´d keep mopping the floor, but you know who always ends up holding the mop!

And so, Lucky... We have been so very lucky… We shared a beautiful life together. 

From the outset lucky had not been overly strong. She was the runt of the pack. The smallest dog. She had needed surgery at only a couple of months old for a hernia. Lucky was always tired, always skinny. She had been very sick as a pup and never really seemed to fully pull through…

Today Francesca found Lucky dead. At just three and a half years old Lucky was unable to keep going. She had no puff left. She was exhausted and sick and tired. And so, she just had to go…

There are just no words that can be said for this kind of a moment. No paternal words of wisdom. Anything I try to conjure up just seems fake. Oh sure, the tears flow and there is an acceptance of what has happened. But what can you say? You can´t say anything. Fran is completely heart broken, not ever really having experienced such a loss. 

And so today we mourn the loss of our best friend, Lucky. She is more than just a beautiful dog, she is a part of our family. 

PS.. And no Liz, you cannot replace man´s best friend, with dog´s worst enemy. We HAVE to get another dog...


Click here to view a video of Lucky with her Family...