square_root_of_pi | Remembering Lena

Lena, Christmas 2006

Lena was a wonderful spirit. Her time on this earth was short, but her message was clear:

Love your family. Love your friends. Love strangers for they are just friends whose names you don't know yet.

And, be good, because you never know when the furless members of your family might finally see the logic in letting you eat all the steak.

I first met Lena when I was fifteen years old. I was a stranger, a friend yet to be made. I remember she was still going by her full name back then and thus she was introduced to me as Selena. She was so excited to meet me and made a little pee on the tile in the foyer where we stood. As she matured, she gained control of her bladder, but her response upon seeing you was the same everytime:

"OMG! Thank you for coming for a visit! You are so awesome! I am so happy that you are alive!"

Everytime. Even during multiple visits the same day or if you were just helping to unload the groceries.

Lena had a way of making you feel special, and reminding you that you were special to her.

Lena and I had a game we would play called "Furless One Thinks We are Playing Catch". It involved Lena bringing a large pumelo sized ball on a looped piece of rope to me. I would then toss the ball, she would "kill" it, and I would try to get the ball back from her. This resulted in me learning that we weren't playing catch and I was basically trying to steal her kill from her.

I would play dirty. There was a spot on her nose she couldn't stand to have rubbed. I would go for that, and usually, she would release the ball.

(As she moved on in years, she would forget that she wasn't a puppy anymore and still want to play "Furless One Thinks We are Playing Catch.". I'll admit, I would let her win and I stopped rubbing her nose. By this point, she had arthritis in her hips and it was an amazing feat for her to be playing period.)

I wasn't an original member of her pack, but Lena treated me no differently. During my late teen years, my parents were separating and eventually divorced. There would be times when I would sporadically show up at Lena's house and just sit in the computer room petting Lena and talking about my fears and worries about my parents inevitable divorce and other trials of being a teenager.

Lena wasn't the sharpest nail, but she was empathetic. She would put on her serious face and furrow her doggie brow and just look at you while you cried on her strong doggie shoulder.

Your life could be chaos, but Lena was the rock of certainty. No matter what was going on, Lena would love you, Lena would think you were awesome, Lena would want to play.

Lena, thank you for visiting us these past thirteen years. Thank you for being so awesome. Thank you for reminding us what it means to be alive.