Lucyversary

We've had lots of occasions this year in our household. Our younger daughter L turned 10, and her sister Marina 12, her last birthday before becoming a teenager. My wife and I had our 15th wedding anniversary (though I was out of town for the actual day). My parents had their 45th.

We saw the 25th anniversary of the Air India bombing, and the 30th since the big eruption of Mount St. Helens. I marked 40 years since Jimi Hendrix died, and what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday (it will be 30 years since his death next month), 10 years since the release of Mac OS X and 25 since the appearance of the original Super Mario Bros. game. I passed three years since my cancer diagnosis, and this blog even turned 10 years old.

Today is another significant event at our house. A year ago, we bought a puppy and brought her home in our station wagon. She was already almost three months old, and we named her Lucy—my wife Air's idea, since her first dog as a child also had that name. Despite some extremely tiring early days, where I had to take her outside every couple of hours before she was housetrained, it has been wonderful to have her here. She is warm, and most often a calming and gentle presence in the house.

When I'm alone here with her, as I often am when my wife's at work and the kids are at school, the house is a more vibrant and alive place. We've never regretted bringing her home, and we're glad we brought Lucy into our family.