Sandy.

This morning, we had to put Sandra Lucille Johnson-Miller down. She was in our lives for 14 wonderful years (that's 98 doggie years so you don't have to do the math)! She was like Yoda. Old, loving, & wise.

This is Sandy & I the week we brought her home. I house trained her, taught her how to sit, lay, roll over, and shake. She would always try to shake instead of roll over because that was an easier trick :)

She was the dog we got after Jake died, the year my parents divorced. (Affectionately called the Year From Hell). Sandy was nicknamed Big Fluff by the family we got her from, and she was a big old cinnamon roll of happy-go-lucky goodness. We needed her so during those formative years. Sean was 8, Lindsay was 10, and I was 12. We are now 22, 24, and almost 26! Sandy saw us through some tough & and some wonderful times.

In her younger years, she was my running buddy.

She loved having her head out the car window on the way to the beach & loved chasing seagulls! She would jump into the waves and start swimming, determined to catch them.

Sandy was such a lover. Even when other dogs were abrasive and nipping at her, she would keep wagging her tail and want to sniff and be friends.

Memories of Sandyface:

- the time she jumped out of the back of the Ranger

- the first time I took her for a walk and had to lift her to get over the curb because she was so small

- how she used to fit in our hands

- the whole neighborhood out in the street trying to corral her back to our house

- one neighbor calling her a menace and throwing rocks at her

- another walking over with a shovel of her poop and throwing it on our lawn

- the time she hid a half-chewed baguette behind Lindsay's bed & we found it, rock hard, who knows how much later...Sandy was ecstatic we found her long lost treasure!

- how you could tell she'd been burying treasures when the top of her nose was pink from pushing dirt around

- when she was happy how her ears went to the side and she looked like a little cow

- how she used to go from bedroom to bedroom each night to check on us kids & sleep with each of us a little

- how she slept on the couch and used to jump off when someone was coming...then she got so lazy/deaf that she just stayed there

- how much she LOVED bread and butter

- when the birds would come eat her food and she'd want to run outside and chase them

- the times we dressed her up in ridiculous Christmas sweaters, giant pink t-shirts, etc. and she put up with us

- the time Lindsay & Allison dyed her tail purple and it stayed that way for so long!

- how good she was with kids

- walking with her while pregnant & people asking if Sandy was pregnant too!

- how protective she was of Ada

We will miss her so much. It is going to be a hard adjustment to make. Coming home today from running errands was painful. I am so used to that thumping tail and happy face to greet me. While putting away leftovers, I missed her big, begging, brown eyes looking up at me for a scrap. Our house seems too quiet right now, but I know it will get better.

She is in a happy place now, where she doesn't have her bump or arthritis. I know her sister Sasha, our old dog Jake, Matt's old dog Bitsy, Mommy's old dog Beau, and countless other pups were there to greet her. She was such a happy dog until the end, even when she could barely walk.

Thank you, Sandy Lucille, for all of the years of unconditional love.

We will miss you pups!