Lexi's Story - How my son's beloved dog helped us cope with his loss.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
So one of the things that we found after the loss of
our son was the support peoplethat were there after made the
recovery a little bit easier.
And today we're gonna talk aboutLexi.
Lexi was my son's dog that cameto live with us after he passed
away.
Actually came to live with uswhen he went on to hospice and

(00:26):
she was with us for almost fourand a half years after he passed
away.
So she was a great Pyrenees mixand was his best friend, the
love of his life.
He wanted her with him all thetime.
So Lexi was a dog that was veryprotective, very loving, and

(00:48):
then way different than wenormally would have expected a
dog to be loving.
So we were used to labs who arepet me all the time.
Everything is about love, love,love, love.
Lexi was much more of acomforter.
So after Richie passed away,she's in the middle of every

(01:08):
family event like Christmas ortimes that the grandkids would
come over either to spend thenight or be over for the day.
Grandma always got them matchingor holiday appropriate pajamas.
Well, Lexi always got a bandanathat matched the kids' outfits
and she proudly wore them aroundduring every one of the events.

(01:33):
During events, she would alwaysbe laying on someone's lap.
She would, every picture youfind, she's right in the middle
of all the action.
Even though she wasn't a pet me,pet me, pet me, she was a, I'm
gonna lay my head on your lap.
She was very good with thegrandkids.

(01:53):
There's pictures that you'll seeon the video version of this
that they lay on top of her,they would crawl under her, and
she was perfectly fine with it.
My youngest son would come overto our house to eat at least
once a week, if not more, andtheir routine was as soon as
dinner was done, he would go sitdown by the couch, Lexi would go

(02:16):
over, plop her head on his lap,and...
would pet her and then he wouldhave to clean the big ball of
fur up that she created and weused to joke that she was kind
of like pigpen on the charliebrown comics that everywhere you
walked she would have this poofof things behind her and it was

(02:39):
hair and we had our floorschanged to very dark hardwoods
and her hair would just pile upon that.
Literally, we had to have vacuumcleaners that ran every day
cleaning up her hair, and it wasjust constant.

(03:00):
If we could have figured out howto use a loom, we probably could
have been selling sweaters thatshe had so much hair that came
out.
But she was very comforting tous because that was Richie's
dog.
We always...
would say that she was our granddoggy.
We'd always talk about herdaddy, Richie.

(03:22):
She was just very comforting forthe time that she was with us.
And doing this video, we losther about four months ago.
She was over 13 years old, whichwas a long time for her breed.
She, up until the day that shepassed away, was just always

(03:44):
wanting to be in the action, Sohappy when you come home to see
you and just a constant reminderof Richie.
So for us, she was reallyimportant in that transition
period from the loss of the sonthat she was a constant reminder

(04:04):
just of things about his life.
There's some pictures you'll seein here that she was always with
him in the house.
She would come up, just lay herhead on his lap and always
wanted to say, hey, I'm here foryou.
And that was a great comfort.
And I think that's an importantpart of recovery of a parent

(04:25):
after the loss of a child.
The people that support you, inthis case, it was a beloved dog.
that reminded us daily ofRichie.
And again, she was not the dogthat we would have picked, but
she was heartbreaking when wehad to say goodbye.
She just became an integral partof our life because she was

(04:49):
Richie's dog.
So I'm doing kind of a specialpodcast just on her.
She was very unique, and I'llpost a couple of these pictures
on the video.
It was very funny sometimes tosee how she'd lay from on her
back.
She'd have her legs half up onstaircase.

(05:10):
She'd like to lay on the landingand part of her head would be
hanging over.
Feet would be hanging higher onone side, just always in some
goofy positions.
And it was very entertaining.
Brought us a lot of joy thatreminded us of Richie.
She also would be, if we weregone sometimes just 10 minutes

(05:31):
and you'd walk back in, shewould go crazy.
She would run through the house.
She'd run on the first floor,make out.
She'd go down in the basement.
Then upstairs, you'd open theback door.
She'd run around the yardmultiple times, come back in,
and still had energy.
And it was like, I've missed youso much.
I'm just so glad you're home.
But she wasn't the kind that youwould just come and you could

(05:52):
just pet her.
And she was crazy.
Very loving, but in a way thatwas, I'm here to protect you.
I miss you.
When you sit down, I'm here tocomfort you.
She just became a very specialpart of the transition that
helped us with Richie.
We'd have her de-shedded, had aspa day every six weeks.

(06:14):
And when we'd take her over, itwas always, this is our grand
doggy.
Everybody knew the story.
But again, she was very special.
And a number of the people atthe veterinarian, people that
did the baths, things like that.
They all were very aware howspecial she was and treated her
as such.
It's just a special tribute toher, an incredible support dog

(06:37):
for us through this transition.
And we still miss her every day.
She's been gone about, like Isaid, about four months.
In thinking of the people thathave been so supportive of us,
Lexi was there literally everyday to remind us of Richie and
how much she had loved him andhow much he loved her.

(06:59):
And just super appreciative,special for us that Richie
trusted her to us.
You know, we never...
Sometimes she could drive uscrazy because of her energy.
It was always very specialbecause that was Richie's...

(07:20):
Richie's dog.
And he, through the years, whenhe was going to the National
Institute of Health, Lexi wouldcome over and stay with us a lot
of times.
There was times when Richie wasworking that he would come, she
would come over and spend theevening.
She spent at Christmascelebrations when The other dogs
were all at the house, othergrand doggies and our dog, Duke.

(07:43):
Lexi was, again, very special inhelping us with the transition
and just kind of wanted to givea shout out.
She was as helpful to us ineasing that whenever you felt
the kind of struggles withdealing with the loss of a
child, she was always there askind of a reminder that this is

(08:05):
one of the things that he lovedmost in life.
She was there to comfort us.
So thank you for watching.