We are celebrating our 18-year-old family member, Lucy. Sadly we needed to put her down today as she has been progressively struggling.

What a great dog. And don’t feel bad for her or us! She lived a pretty damn good life (at least after leaving the pound!). If there really is reincarnation I want to come back as a Roberts’ pet.

She was skinny as a rail when we first got her – you could count her ribs. We seemed to have cured her of that malady.

Lucy probably traveled to more places than most of us; has hiked hundreds if not (probably) thousands of miles, been canoeing and chased countless cats, squirrels and chipmunks.

She knew instinctively when a camping trip was being planned. One time I was loading the Excursion and the trailer and had left the door to the Excursion open. Suddenly we were ready to go but couldn’t find Lucy. I look in the back of the Excursion and there she is sitting all nice and pretty, ready to go!

Of course, she probably didn’t understand everything we did. One time we ended up at a campground that we realized too late did not allow dogs. So as we were driving by the ranger, the kids dressed her up in sunglasses and a shawl – I swear to God she looked like Jackie Onassis. Good girl. No ticket.

We celebrated her 18^th birthday this past year. Karen put together invitations to the neighborhood dogs, had party favors, doggie ice cream, games, and a photo booth for pictures (http://travelwiththeslowskys.com/2015/06/11/lucys-18th-birthday-june-2015/). What a howl!

And this Halloween she (grudgingly) dressed up as a sheep as part of our barnyard of animals for a FarmersOnly.com themed venue. (Note: Yes that is Rosie dressed up as a cow).

LICK – SNIFF – POOP – DROOL. Lucy was loved and will most certainly be missed, but like I said don’t feel bad for her or us; it was a life well lived, and our lives were only made better by having her in our world.