All Hail the New Lambie

This is Lambie. When Sophie was just a wee pup, Lambie was her first stuffed toy and quickly became her favorite toy. She knows Lambie by name. If we say, "Go get Lambie", she's not coming back with anything but Lambie.

Sophie carried Lambie around everywhere. If we traveled, Lambie was the first toy that got packed. At bedtime we could be assured that, at some point during the night, one of us would have the sensation of having just hatched a Lambie after she was found shoved up near our butt while Sophie lay sleeping peacefully next to her.

The problem is that Sophie loves Lambie so much that within a few months she winds up looking like this:



Since Sophie is nearly six years old, you can imagine that we've been through a few Lambies.

The original Lambie came from PetsMart. After a few weeks we began noticing that some of her body parts were missing. First her cute little stubby tail gets chewed off, followed by each of her ears, and finally all four extremities vanish. It is in this state that we refer to her as Post Mortem Lambie.

The first time we were presented with a Post Mortem Lambie, we ran out to PetsMart and got a new one. But when Lambie #2 gave her life and we trotted off to PetsMart to get another, they were completely out. Since we have a second PetsMart all the way across the city, we headed straight there. No Lambies. This caused somewhat of a panic. Sophie moped around the house like she'd lost her best friend and we felt like guilty parents.

Fortunately, I was still doing lots of traveling for work and wound up in Jackson, Mississippi, in a hotel right across Interstate 55 from PETSMART! On a lunch break, I ran over there and found they had four Lambies in stock so I bought them all. Thus began the string of new Lambies that we've had in this house. I like to keep two or three on hand so that when Lambie gets to that post mortem state, we can quickly replace her.

This time, E decided that Lambie was gross and it was time for her to go away. He made this great discovery while we were lying in bed one night and his arm happened to touch a slobbery Lambie in the condition you see her above. Since Sophie is a short dog and she wasn't paying attention, he grabbed Lambie and stuck her on the headboard of our bed next to the post. There poor Lambie sat for quite a few weeks, lonely and obviously forgotten by both us and Sophie.

Two days ago, Sophie came trotting out of our bedroom with Post Mortem Lambie in her mouth, a triumphant expression on her face. She'd caught a whiff of her favorite friend and used that powerful nose of hers to locate the lonely creature. That's when E and I remembered Lambie and her condition and decided that she needs to go in the trash. The only problem is that we had to wait for Sophie to momentarily forget Lambie before we could snatch her.

Last night at bedtime, I brought out the new Lambie, fresh and white sporting all of her appendages. Sophie did a big ol' happy dance and they've been best pals ever since. As I fell asleep, I felt the familiar sensation of a new Lambie covered in puppy spit being shoved up against my arm. Ah! Life is good.