Lucky's lifespan

Denial is not just a river in Egypt, people! It is also a river that runs wide and deep straight through my heart!! See, here's the deal. Or, the deal as I see it. Or I guess I should say - saw it. The new vet drained that river of denial in my heart like it was nothing at all! Anyhoo, as I was saying, Lucky wasn't supposed to be big. Well, maybe I need to back up a little bit. One of Mark's friends moved in with us years ago, and he brought with him his Great Dane. The dog's name was Sampson, and he and I instantly bonded. I loved that damn dog! And so I became hooked on Great Danes, thinking that when we finally got a dog, that is what I would want. But some years later, I learned of the life span of the Dane, which is around nine years. And I knew that my heart just couldn't take that. I mean, really, just look at this sweet face:

Could you possibly part with him in nine short years??? No way! So although I truly loved them, I knew I could never have a Dane.

Ok, now we can jump back to Mark and Lucky. Mark decided that for Christmas 2002, he would finally get me that dog I'd been begging for. And I had switched breeds to German sheperds. He had a bad experience with a sheperd, however, and was afraid to have one around the kids. He felt better about getting a "lab". So he goes to the shelter and brings home what he was told to be a "lab mix". It's good to have a veterinarian for a brother, so you learn that "lab mix" really means they don't know what the heck it is! Funny, huh?

Well, he brings him home to me and he is the most precious, sweetest, baby angel doggy ever! I will never forget when Mark rang the doorbell and I answered the door and he put him in my arms - one of my best memories EVER!!!! And then I put him down. And then I saw his feet. And then I told Mark that this dog was going to be HUGE! He wondered how the heck I knew that. I told him to just look at his gigantaloid feet! Mark didn't quite believe me, but, that dog just kept growing and growing and growing..... Kind of like the energizer dog! HA!

So, now you see - Lucky wasn't supposed to be big. Get it? So although I mentally realized that, being a large dog, he would have a large dog life span, I have let myself think for these last four and a half years, that it doesn't really apply to my dog! Because, of course, my dog wasn't supposed to big, I say.

And Mr. new smartypants veterinarian had to go and smash that silly fantasy of mine all to pieces!!!! He told Mark that Lucky will live, you guessed it - eight to nine years.

Well, thank you very much.

Lucky will be five in October, and I have been moping around since hearing that like he is dying next month. My bubble has really been burst. I know it's silly, and I know it is completely illogical, but, I was happy with my fantasy. I was.