Blaze

It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since Blaze died. The house was so empty without her. It was too easy to walk from point A to point B without having to step over her, but it was too strange.

I don't miss the mess she made; hair everywhere, dirt everywhere, huge brown spots on the wall wherever she leaned against them, but I do miss feeling safe because she was around. No one came near our house without her letting us know. No one.

Of course, her last few months, this wasn't true. I once walked into the house, walked into the kitchen, and stood right next to her without her knowing it. She finally looked up with this startled glance as if to say, "Whoa! When did you get here?" Still, people would hang back when I opened the door because of her size. We never let on how sweet she was, though she WOULD take you out if you went after one of her kids!

Another thing I miss is the way she would put herself between people and her family. Everyone thought she was coming over for scratches and attention, but she would carefully stand between anyone and us. She did this all the time.

The one thing I never tire of telling, and the thing that endeared her to me forever, was when Glenna was an infant. John flew out to Florida to see his friend Steve (little knowing it would eventually move us here). That night, I looked all over for Blaze before I went to bed. I called her and called her, and I could hear her tail hitting the carpet but I couldn't find her. Finally, I walked into the nursery.

Blaze had planted herself under the baby's crib. I told her to stay so she'd stop thumping her tail and possibly wake Glenna! She did that every single night until John came home, then she went back to sleeping in the living room.

She was large, she was neurotic, she was a pain.

I miss her.