The Story of a Girl (Part I)

Lizzie came into this world as a Minnie. Or at least that's what she was called when I first saw her. And no offense to all the Minnies out there, but that just wasn't right. Lizzie was a Lizzie. It just fit. (Yes, I had just read a biography of infamous axe murderer Lizzie Borden, so she was kind of named after her, but mainly, she just seemed like a Lizzie.)

Lizzie, Liz, Little Liz, Sweet Liz, Lizgirl, Lizmeister, Sweet Pickle ... she was all those names.

I owned Lizzie before I owned furniture (except a bed). When I brought her home, I had a bed for me and a new purple bed for her that I bought at Petco. No couches or chairs or tables or anything else. The second or third night I had her, I brought home Wendy's for supper. As soon as I started to eat, my friend Allison called. Having no table or chairs or anything, I put the bag down on the floor to go get the phone. In the 45 seconds it took me to come back into the den, my entire cheeseburger had been devoured and pieces of french fry hung out of Lizzie's mouth. I was both furious and charmed. For years after that, when I went to Wendy's (which was very close to my apartment), I bought an extra order of Biggie Fries for Lizzie. And most of the time, Lizzie went with me and completely finished her order before we ever even got home.

Now, that purple bed. The first couple of nights I put Lizzie in bed with me just because I was so excited to have her. After a week or so I guess, I started trying to put her in her own bed. Every night I would pull her nice wonderful purple bed right beside my bed and put her in it. She could see me and I could see her. I could reach my hand down and pet her. That just wasn't quite good enough though. Every time I put her in, she jumped right out and onto the bed with me. It was a battle until one morning I awoke to find Lizzie in bed with me and pieces of purple dog bed scattered throughout the entire apartment, from the kitchen to the bathroom to the bedroom. From that day forward, Liz slept wherever she wanted, mostly in bed with me in the early years and under the bed in later years.

Lizzie was about 6 months old when I got her & still in the puppy chewing stage. She chewed everything -- computer cords, pillows, towels, and yes, even the wooden legs of the dining room chairs I would eventually get. Two chew episodes stand out the most though. One time she chewed up a pair of leather shoes and swallowed whole the leather sole. I wear a size 13 by the way. How she got that sole down her throat is beyond me. But eventually, and not pleasantly, it came back up. The first year I had her, she also chewed the corners of every single wrapped Christmas present I had under the tree that year. So everyone got these gifts with strange bite marks and ripped paper at the corner.

To be continued ...

My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet. ~Edith Wharton