Rainbow Bridge 2012
Rainbow Bridge - 2012
9/2012
We first met her in 1999; she was two years old and had come off the racetrack in Dairyland, WS. Her track name was Lucky Lil. We always say we did not pick her - she picked us. At the first introductions she put both of her front feet up on our son’s shoulders, he was tall for a 13 year old, looked him straight in the eye and licked his face. Never again in her lifetime did she every climb to rest her feet on anyone’s shoulders or give kisses.
She was a beautiful, regal princess but without airs. Her favorite activity was hiking in the woods, finding creeks, ponds or mud holes to lie in. The more mud the better. She would emerge with a big smile, her fur marked with a distinct black line on the bottom and white on the top.
Lily was a puppy the first two weeks at her new home with us, but after that she ways used her very deep masculine bark when she wanted something. She used her voice every morning to say how pleased she was to start a new day and her excitement when reaching one of the many parks she roamed.
The first time Lily saw ducks in a pond she threw herself full force into the water to catch them and realized she could not touch to bottom. What a scramble to get back to shore. You see, she loved the water but never learned to swim.
Much later in her life Lily came across a flock of ducks on another lakeshore and scared them jumping several feet in the air actually catching one. Franticly I ask her to drop it and as she did the fortunate duck flew out of her mouth. After that she was always interested in wildlife but never worked hard enough to catch any.
When she still loved to race we would take her to football fields and ask her to race from one end to the other. Always willing to get her cherished treat as a reward at the end. She would fly down the field and just before reaching the finish line her tail would flip up from underneath her body swivel around and project up as a rudder to slow her down. You could always count on the seeing the tail rudder along with a satisfied look on her face.
Lily invented her own track game at the park playing with her family. The four of us would square off and throw freebees or softballs and since she had no intention of playing fetch she would control our attention by running her own race making fast circles around our ball game in one direction and then quickly reversing to the other direction. All her adult life she played this game with her family.
Another game she really enjoyed was hide and seek. We would play in the house or outdoors. She loved to find you and have you jump out and scream. You could feel her excitement when she found your hiding spot and you jumped and yelled, "Boo! You found me!"
Early Saturday mornings she would fly across our bedroom and dive between us in bed rolling on her back trying to get just a little more shuteye along with much needed pats and rubs. She would take up so much of the bed we would eventually have to give it up to her.
One time when I parked my SUV backwards in the garage, not paying much attention, she jumped on the hood instead of inside. Standing so high on the hood, she realized her mistake but could not do anything but hold tightly with her nails. The look on her face was priceless.
Every year the greyhound people get together for celebration and fundraising at the Boone County fair grounds. Always in the heat of summer with lots of hot dogs, hamburgers, pitch in dishes and plenty of cold drinks on ice. The dogs can participate in agility games, beauty contests or just cool off in the baby pools supplied. Lily so disliked the heat of summer and the baby pool was quite congested as she walked back into the picnic pavilion she climbed right in the tub of ice where the drinks had been kept cold. She solved her summer heat problem!
Lily was a lifelong beloved member of our family. Loved by many. We were the lucky ones. Thank you for choosing our family.
Debra Howard
