Yep, today is Lucy’s birthday, and she’s a whole five years old. How in the world did that happen? It seems like just yesterday that we brought her home, rather than a dozen freshly baked, hot Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts. Or did I tell this story?

Four years, nine months, and two weeks ago, we stopped at one of those doggie adoption days at a local Petsmart “just to look.” We did this often…never any intention to actually adopt, but just to get our doggie fix. (We were still missing, awfully, Emma, our golden retriever.) Well, we looked alright, and there she was. W discovered her all curled up, alone, in the corner of a huge crate, calm and snoozy as humans milled about, gawking. Her crate-mates had already been scooped up by their new forever-people, and we couldn’t understand how Cookie (her given name) could’ve been left behind. She was so fuzzy and beautifully colored, so unique compared to her brown and black, short-haired roomies (whom we later discovered were her siblings). We spent the rest of our time there cuddling her sleepy self against our shoulders while whispering sweet nothings in her ear and staving off kids who wanted to snatch her away to play. When adoption day started to close down, we left empty-handed, but questioned ourselves on the walk back to the truck…should we bring Cookie home? Are we ready for her? Are we ready for a puppy?

We headed home, looking forward to (for us) the one and only draw of Alexandria’s overly commercial Rt. 1…Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. When their storefront sign is all a-glow, it means glazed wonders have just emerged from the cooker and can be purchased hot…so hot and tender that they actually melt in your mouth. Mmmm. However…no glow from the window. And that gave us just enough pause to think of Cookie, again, because she’d never really left our minds. Is it too late? Is she still at the store? We raced back to Petsmart, again, and arrived just as her handlers had loaded her up for the return trip to her foster home, and at our request, they promptly unloaded her. The rest is history and a happy one at that.

Happy Birthday, Lucy!