Memories of Tucker

Last night I had a dream of my puppy. It was nice to see him again.
I won't write about the dream though...
Instead of replaying the trauma of his death in my mind, I am going to write out all of my memories of Tucker.

The story of Tucker actually starts 5 or so years ago. My wonderful friend Karen had the very best dog I ever met. I wanted one of her puppies so badly. But years went by and still no puppies. Being the impatient person I am, I went ahead and looked for a different puppy on my own. That's when I found Knuckles. Knuckles will be three this November. But this spring something wonderful happened... Peanut finally had puppies! All the puppies were spoken for, but by some miracle (in my mind) they fell through, and Karen posted on facebook that they were up for adoption. I bolted over the first chance I got!

When I arrived at their house I plopped myself down on the cement in back and Tucker came running. The biggest and toughest of the bunch. He barreled over his brother and sister in play, and I knew, if any one was going to be able to handle Knuckles... this one would be it!

Home I went, with the "bully" of the litter. My heart full of joy and completion.

I took him home to a lonely house. Both kids were gone for the summer (my son to camp, and my daughter at Nana and Papa's.) I was aching for someone to mother. Tucker met all of those needs.

It took Knuckles about a week to call Tucker "brother". There was entertaining jealousy for me to watch all day. Knuckles claimed my lap, sometimes by sitting right on top of Tucker. Tucker always took it like a trooper and simply picked a new spot to lay down.

If you leaned down to give him a kiss, you would most likely end up with a bite on the nose. His other favorite biting destinations were your ears, and the hem of your clothes. Flowing skirts and towels were his favorite.

Tucker was a natural at mousing. Only once did we find one in the back yard, but he caught it like a pro, and I had to pry it out of his clenched teeth. Knuckles loves to chase mice out in the field near by. Tucker was only allowed once... the stickers that matted his hair that day led us to just carry him through the field from then on. But one day a mouse shot out from the field and hid under a car. Knuckles couldn't reach of course, so I let Tucker down and two seconds later he emerged with a tiny tail sticking out of his mouth. I praised him as I pried open his jaws again, this time with much less resistance. He was so proud.

In our early days of walking he made it about half a mile then would flop beneath a tree for a rest. Recently though, he kept up with Knuckles for all of our three mile walk. On every walk he would look back at the house during the first block or two, dragging a little; then on our way home, once he realized that we were close, he would speed up and pull the whole way home. This was always amusing to me cause it's the exact opposite of what Knuckles does. Knuckles is always much more lively in the front end of the walk, then drags once we come within a few blocks of home on the way back.

Tucker was always the last one to bed at night. We'd tuck him in with Savannah, then a few minutes later we'd hear the jingle of his collar making his way to our room. He'd lay on the bathroom floor waiting for me to get out of the shower... then tug at the towel while I dried off.

Tucker's wake up time was 6:30 on the dot. The jingle of his collar would get closer and closer to my side of the bed, then a little whimper would accompany tiny scratches on the bed frame. "Pick me up." I'd lift him on to the bed and he'd bite my ear.

Tucker loved his brother Knuckles! He loved to jump up and bite his jaws, and his ears when he could reach. He learned everything from Knuckles... How to pee like a big boy, how to stay in the front yard and not run away, how to sit for a treat... we were just working on laying down, shaking hands, and kissing on command.
Tucker loved bully sticks, and would often try to trade his small one for Knuckles' big one. Knuckles, being a bit of a push over when it came to Tucker, would give his up and you'd see Tucker dragging a bully stick as long as himself around the yard.

One evening when we were tucking my son in bed, Tucker went under the bed and drug out an old bully stick of Knuckles' that he had hid there. We took it away from him, and he went back under and came out with a bone... He had found Knuckles' stash. (We would have never known.) He found another one (semi) buried in the back yard one day while we were swimming. He was a good little treasure finder.

On a few different occasions we would go back to his birth house for a visit. Knuckles came with us a couple times and Tucker showed him off to his family. It was so cute to see three little mops jumping on a great big "mean" dog.

Knuckles grew up real fast because of Tucker. Tucker took the spot of "puppy" and Knuckles instantly matured himself to responsible big brother. He was very protective (after the jealousy was over). When we wanted Tucker to come and he wasn't coming, Knuckles would get up and come to us... making Tucker follow him. Knuckles would alert us if there was a "mess" we needed to see, or if Tucker had something he wasn't suppose to have. It was so cute. Knuckles would even let Tucker have his food if Tucker asked for it... which led to me putting Knuckles' food up higher.

Tucker loved car rides. (I've been told that he was quite scared of the car before... so it must have been another one of Knuckles' teachings.) Tucker would run to the car door whenever he thought you were leaving. After bible study, when my ladies would leave he would attempt to get in each car as I said good bye. He loved to take the kids to school in the morning, and pick them up in the afternoon.

At the dog park all the owners would comment on his bravery and how much he liked the big dogs.

And that's all I'm going to say about that... cause that just made me cry.

I was talking to my dad this morning and he was talking about how his views on animals in "heaven" had changed. He was reminding me how big the new Jerusalem's measurements are, and saying what if the New Earth is expanded just as the New Jerusalem is, and surely there would be room for all the animals that we have loved. I really like that thought.

Tucker... I miss you... But I hope and pray to see you again on the other side.

Swiss Airport Confusion

Sorry for the gap in posts. I have been dreaming... just some have been about other friends who may not want those dreams shared.

Last night's dream, however, was just about my daughter and me.

We drove to an airport in Switzerland and went inside trying to find our way to the terminal.
The room we went into first was a salon. There were very snooty women working there and no one would help us. Finally I started walking out muttering to myself about the service. One of the ladies then said, "I will help you in a moment." I was already half way out the door, so we just kept on walking.
Once out into the foyer we saw an elevator and for some reason knew that the terminal was up a few floors, so we got in.
There was a Japanese business man in the elevator as well. We pushed a button and the glass elevator went up very quickly and then started to make a circle around a section of the foyer, also very quickly... like a kiddy-ride at a fair.
We realized this was not going to get us anywhere.
Once the elevator 'landed' we got out and went to an information desk area.
As we were waiting for our turn a voice over the loud speaker said, "Flights ____ and _____ for Denver and ______, now boarding.
I didn't know if our flight went through one of those places, so I started to panic and told my daughter to start gathering our things, that we would run over there.
As I looked down to grab our suit cases I saw that there was only one small suitcase and the rest were all art supplies. The art supplies were very unorganized and in small bags or cases. Like one bag full of paints, my tackle box of paints, a stack of sketch pads and paper, plastic grocery bags of brushes and fabric, chalks, etc. It was overwhelming. I tried to pick it all up but was having a very hard time.
I got frustrated with my daughter for not helping.
Then it was our turn at the information counter.
I went up there and the lady started speaking to me in another language. (We were in Switzerland after all.) I then asked her, in Italian, how to get to the 'train station'. Which I said incorrectly... "Dove è la stazione del traino?" But really I should have been saying "Dove è l'aeroporto". Oh well. Anyway, she then said, in English, that she didn't speak Italian. So in an Italian accent, I spoke to her in broken English. (So silly.)

When I started to think that we were going to miss our flight I looked around and noticed that there was a very fancy mall behind the foyer area. I told my daughter that if we stayed we could go shopping. She was not amused. She just wanted to leave. Then she said, "Mom, I don't need any more clothes, and neither do you." I concurred, but said, "Well, maybe we could just get one outfit for fun."

Then I woke up.

This one seems pretty straight forward in many ways.
i had a conversation with my husband last night about feeling overwhelmed and not knowing which art project to do next, which bible study, etc. So that speaks clearly about the disorganized bags etc.
My daughter has often expressed an interest in living in Switzerland. (She's been before, and loved it.) The only overseas place I've ever lived is Italy, which is why I reverted to that language. We are flying to Denver at Thanksgiving, to spend time with family friends in Manitou Springs. (So there's that reference... even as it being a non-final destination.)
I think to elevator and all the confusion is just about my lack of direction. My daughter being involved in all of it is probably just because I spent my evening with her driving her to dance classes. We talked about our passions and goals etc.