Adventures in Loving Addy: It Was a Ruff Weekend...Goodbye Old Friend

The house has been too quiet since Saturday morning, and my eyes and tear ducts are still recovering. We haven't heard the snorts or coughs, there have been no races from one room to the next, and no one has squeaked when their ear got bit just a little too hard. We lost our Elvis this weekend, and we are all devastated.

Elvis came into my life a few days after a non eventful Spring Break during my freshman year of college. Most of the students were off on cruises in Mexico, or visiting friends at colleges who were on semesters, so the hallways in the dorm were peaceful and quiet. Those of us that were on campus enjoyed the calm before the storm, knowing that with Spring quarter came the festivals and street parties that made our livers quiver with fear and our parents fear for our sobriety. We made plans to grab a bite to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant, which always led to a quick stop at the pet store to snuggle puppies...a cheap form of therapy.

After stuffing ourselves with tacos, we made our way to the pet store ready for puppy breath and the inevitable scratches from tiny puppy paws and claws. I walked along the wall of cages, making obnoxious noises and faces at every slobbery, wet nosed, four legged ball of cuteness. And then, there he was. A tiny, and I mean fit in your hands tiny, black and white chihuahua. He had black tiny triangles for ears that folded over, just too cute to stand straight up. His tail was black with a white tip, and both of his cheeks and eyebrows were tan. His little black nose was smaller than a dime, and his brown eyes melted my heart. I flagged down the nearest store employee, asking to hold him immediately, feeling as if my heart might explode if he wasn't in my hands soon.

My friend and I sanitized our hands and stepped into the little square box, anxiously waiting for the cuteness to arrive. Cupping him to her chest, the employee walked over to us, explaining that the puppy hadn't even been in the store a full day, and that we were the first ones to hold him. She passed him to me, I held him up to me at eye level, and he reached out with his nose and touched mine. I was done. He was mine.

We would walk all over campus, stopping to make friends with anyone who wanted to pet Elvis, he was practically a celebrity in his own right. Some of the friends I still have today, I met because of Elvis. He became somewhat of a mascot, since he was being housed illegally in campus housing. We even managed to pass an inspection, putting elvis in a tote bag while two people poked around my dorm room, asking if I had any pets other than the beta fish on my desk. Elvis and Tiffany: bucking the system since 2006.

Elvis was there with me through college, also spending a significant amount of time at my parent's house. He was the man in my life until Nolan came along, and I knew that unless Elvis approved of him, Nolan and I wouldn't last long. The two were fast friends, truthfully, I think he liked Nolan more than me from that point on. Together, Nolan and I brought another four legged friend into our family, Bella, who would eventually give us a puppy, Woobie, who we still have today.

Elvis was with me through Nolan's first deployment, curling up at the foot of the bed until he thought I was asleep, and then standing guard from his bed only a few feet away. He was waiting for us when we brought Keegan home from the hospital, curious about the crying baby taking up all of our time. He laid with me on the couch as I cried, worrying about Addy and her future, somehow knowing that I needed comforting. He grew grumpy in his old age, hiding for most of the day. He put up with the kids chasing him with toys, being stepped on by wobbly toddlers, and even let Addy crawl into the crate with him for a quick snuggle before he would high tail it out of there.

We are all struggling without him. His absence has left a hole in all of our hearts, Woobie's too. After he passed, we let her in to see him one last time, allowing her the chance to say a goodbye. She went in and laid with him, whining and licking his nose. It was heart wrenching. She avoided their crate, and their bed, even waiting until today to eat again. I know that she probably didn't understand that Elvis was her father, but she was mourning the loss of her friend right along with us. Explaining Elvis' passing to Keegan has been a challenge in and of itself. Lots of questions, and lots of tears.

It's been a rough weekend. We miss our friend. We miss our Elvis.

Wherever you are, I hope there are snuggly blankets, plenty of veggies, and lots of smelly shoes to stick your head in. You will be forever loved, forever missed, and never forgotten. Long live the King.