Do You Feel Lucky?

One of my earliest memories is of my Grandma's white boxer, Barron. When I was only a toddler, Barron seemed so huge to me. My mom tells me that one time, I tried to lick Barron's tongue becauue I thought it looked like ham (well, it did!). And I can vividly remember Barron's white hair getting all over my Grandma's pink lumpy carpet. Ahh, those were the days.




Our family has always had a special affinity for boxers. After Barron passed away, my uncle got another boxer. I don't remember his name, but I just know there were always boxers at Grandma's house. They always had cool name like Captain Bo, Sparticus, Rocky. Barney was the boxer we had when grandma passed away. My dad's boxer, Dimpsey, was Barney's brother, and he lived at my step moms after my dad died. Even today, my cousin has two boxers.


I guess I can say boxers are just a tradition in the Pike family, and every boxer we have ever had has been a family member, whether it was Grandma's, my uncle's, my cousin's, or my brother's. We loved them all, and missed them dearly when they moved on. And this is unfortunate and particularly hard becasue we do become so attached to them. One of hardest was when Duke, my brother's boxer, had to be put to sleep while my brother was overseas. It tore up my mom, and I know my brother hurt because he couldn't be there in the end.




Last week we lost another family member. My brother's boxer, Lucky, had to be put to sleep. Lucky was a special dog because of the circumstance by which we came into my brother's life. After a particularly rough time, he won tickets to a Bob Marley festival, and came upon the dog, which he named Lucky. Lucky was a dopey dog, and event though people say that dog's don't have souls, I know Lucky loved us becasue of the way he was always excited to see us. Expecially my brother. I know my brother is hurting at his loss, and I hurt with him.


To all the dogs we've loved before...