Brave, noble, determined, confident, bossy, fearless, bright & sunny, happy, pretty,”Miss Congeniality,” generous, charming, endearing, pure love, exceptional, perfect, precious, kisses, so special, life-saver, soul mate, my mentor and very best friend.

 All these things and so much more were my Whozit Louise, who came careening into so many lives on that sunny Memorial Day, 1991. We were working that day and I was picking up lunch when through all the honking and screeching of the traffic came a collarless, filthy, rotten-dirty, matted mess of a happy Yorkie.

 Right into my heart she bounded, saying, “I’m here, I’m adopting you and I’m in charge.” She adopted not only me, but my parents, brother, friends, pets and anyone who came into our office for the next 12 years. People knew her who didn’t know me.

 She loved to run in the nearby baseball field, loved to feel the wind on her face as she hung out the car window and was just the best jumper. And, when she came home from the groomer, she’d run through every puddle, under every bush and roll on every dead thing.

 Then six years ago, a van ran a red light, hitting our car and tossing Whozie into the passenger’s door, nearly severing her spinal cord in two places and paralyzing her. Later, that day, after hours of surgery, she was sporting seven nuts and bolts down her spine and was the star patient at the emergency vet. She wasn’t supposed to survive, but she did. I was able to bring her home two later. I thanked God every single day after that, that she chose to stay with me for a little while longer.  

 That summer she got her first set of wheels and Whozit was off and running. She wore the first set out and was wearing the second set out, chasing ducks, poodles and bugs, when she was diagnosed with heart failure on October 1, 2003.

 So, on another sunny day, October 9, 2003, my father (I’d never seen him cry before) and I took “my little girl” to Dr. Bock’s for the last time. I held her close to my heart until I knew she just had to be running full-tilt to the Rainbow Bridge and to her yellow cat, best friend, Mr. Baby.

 A gigantic hole was blown through my soul that day. I’ll never know why God chose me to care for this special little spirit and she for me, but I am so grateful He did. 

You make me smile with my heart

                                                __ Rogers & Hart 

The highest tribute to the dead is not grief, but gratitude.