I just wanted to restate how much I love Lily. No, I am not drunk (unless Pellegrino counts). No, I am not dying. I’m just sitting here reading, watching a little tv, and my favorite lady has been on my lap all night:
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Corner Stone
Disturbing.
G
or “as good as it gets” starring Jack
oops that was “you make me want to be a better man”
Elie
You are blessed. No other term for it. Its a gift in this life to feel love like that for anyone/anything.
Enjoy. That energy and the positive effect – “making you a better person” transfers that energy and light to all of us.
I feel that way about my Buddy and before him, Bill. One year since Bill passed on, but he is as part of my heart as ever.
Jenny
Jerry Maguire
“you complete me, Lilly”
YellowJournalism
Only one appropriate response: Awwwww…
PeakVT
This post should bring out all your haters.
Unrelated: Got a tired old iPod Mini laying around? Upgrading it is easy.
Yutsano
LILYPUPPEH!!
There. I said it. If you don’t like that get the fuck over it.
Valdivia
John you are a mensch.
Lily is very sweet.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: Chill, dude.
Allen
I knows it’s not true of all, but in general, dogs are the greatest creatures on the planet.
MacKenna
Lily is adorable. It’s so great that you found her and she found you.
Is there anything cuter than a dog’s ears from the back?
You seem to have it all in your house. Attila the Cat, Lily the Saint, and Rosie the Riveter.
ABL
awwww. you’re such a softie. i still have dibs on top bitch though. dem’s da roolz.
suzanne
@MacKenna:
LMAO. So true.
The pet gods have smiled upon you. You are very blessed.
Martin
Yutsy is gonna get hit by a satellite.
khead
You’re not nuts. We feel much the same way about The Pea. Every night when my wife gets in her chair – if only for a few minutes – she gets some Sweet Pea lovin like you’re getting now. When I go to bed in a few, Pea will already be there crashed on her, but she’ll end up sprawled all over me eventually…
Pet love is awesome. I sleep soooo much better when I can hear/feel some purrin.
MAJeff
This is how I feel about my cat. She’s at the foot of the bed purring right now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Martin: Maybe it will calm him down.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: Sorry. I’m a bit cranky. Had a self-eval at work today and while going in I tripped on the street and clocked my head. I might just be unnecessarily cranky from that.
@Martin: I welcome the reign of death from upon high.
(Actually I don’t think that satellite ever orbited on that trajectory. But they have no clue where it will set down. It could happen.)
khead
Heh. Pronoun hell. Pea will end up sprawled all over me.
Suffern ACE
@Yutsano: Currently, the guess is somewhere between Canada and Africa, but maybe also the Indian, Atlantic, or Pacific Oceans. Just think of how long it would have taken them to calculate that if they still had to use slide rules.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: A few years ago, I concussed myself standing up under a low ceiling beam at a friend’s loft. Fucked up shit.
Steve V
Aw, I remember when you picked her up. It’s so great that it’s worked out so well for both of you. She’s adorable, and I can never get enough of the Lily pics. (Back to lurking.)
Nylund
I want to make fun of you, but honestly, that’s really sweet. I feel that way about my cat…much to my wife’s chagrin.
LanceThruster
John,
Fortune smiles on you both, that you found each other.
Thanks for always remembering to pass on a little of that love.
Roger Moore
@Suffern ACE:
I think you mean “in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: “A little from column A, a little from Column B.”
(Current soundtrack: Blondie “Die Young, Stay Pretty”)
Short Bus Bully
Fuck me. After reading this post methinks I should have stayed single and gotten a damn dog. Much less drama than a spousal unit and umpteen times cheaper.
hitchhiker
It’s one of the best things humans can do, bonding with an animal, so, congratulations & well done.
when a car took out a beloved cat years and years ago, our family was rattled to the roots . . . but realized after a suitable period that something that hurt that much must be seriously GOOD, and so we went looking to get our hearts broken again.
which happened, in due time. totally and in every way worth it.
BGinCHI
It’s calm now, but it’s gonna end up like Bonnie & Clyde: Cole and Lily running out of a bank and then gunned down like, well, dogs.
Irony.
Omnes Omnibus
@BGinCHI: Sounds a little more Butch and Sundance to me, but whatever.
Swishalicious
I hate to be “that guy,” especially since i’ve been lurking here forever… but i’m not a dog person and feel as if my lady will soon force me to share a living space with a pup – what type of dog is Lily?
If I have to cross this bridge, I want it to be with a very relaxed breed :)
suzanne
@Short Bus Bully:
You can have mine. She’s in both the literal and metaphorical doghouses at the moment.
Paddy
There is always “The One”. My cat Ming was my bf for 18 years from the age of 3. I told him my secrets, he protected me, and was my confidant when I hit the teen years. I never thought I could feel that way about another animal until Scooby.
Never wanted a dog, had no interest until a yahoo ex boyfriend brought him on. The relationship fizzled and I got the dog. In the early days of the intertubes, I was involved and Scoob would come up to the computer room and sit there by my feet, not moving until he heard the Windows shut down chimes, then he knew it was time to move. He protected me from a couple of shady housemates, and never failed to be there when I needed him.
Not saying you can’t love other animals, but sometimes there is just “The One”.
BGinCHI
@Omnes Omnibus: Hard to imagine Lily wearing a hat, but I see what you mean.
In Milwaukee in a couple weeks for the weekend. Where should I eat? Would also like a can’t miss pub rec.
Wait, maybe Cole & Lily more of a Ren and Stimpy combo?
Suffern ACE
@Short Bus Bully: I watched a few episodes of “Emergency Vet”. Apparently stuff can go horribly wrong with pets, too.
Booda
I had a lily -literally, my first dog was named lily – and she was my roommate, my companion, my best friend. Now I have two truly great dogs… But there will never be another lily. Enjoy every second of it JC.
Suzie
I understand your love for Lily.
I spent 15 years with my precious Bingo. The first time ever I saw his face, when he was a tiny, drooling, sleeping puppy … well, I felt the sun rose in his eyes. He slept under my armpit. He hated Squirrels. I gave him his own TV, placed on the floor, and tuned 24/7 to Animal Chanimal.
Even though he’s gone, I can still hear his laugh, and smell his ears.
Treasure your sweet Lily. True love takes many forms.
Omnes Omnibus
@Paddy: Beau. English cocker spaniel. He was my boy. But we won’t get maudlin here.
suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: I had a spaniel, too, who was the puppeh of my life. Missy. Chocolate brown, allergic to grass, always sick, and just the sweetest babe. She died almost ten years ago, and I still think about her all the time. My current pup, Luna, has similarly baleful eyes.
Nutella
Pictures of Lily. Lily oh Lily.
You’ve got a swell dog and a theme song.
Yutsano
@suzanne: My first dog was a big black pile of Newfoundland luv named Sasha. I can remember when she was taller than me and we could ride her. She was definitely in the great dog category, but the best was taking a nap with her. She curled me up like one of her pups. It was the best.
(is it any wonder I want a Great Dane? :)
Omnes Omnibus
@suzanne: Hell. Beau died 26 years ago this month. Never sick a day in is life until his kidneys went. He did get a bit deaf though.
(Soundtrack has moved to The Pretenders. James Honeyman-Scott is an underrated guitarist. Chrissie is, of course, Chrissie.)
Will Reks
@BGinCHI: McBob’s for pub fare. Conejito’s Place for cheap but very good Mexican food.
Omnes Omnibus
@BGinCHI: Coquette in the 3rd Ward is good. The salmon sandwich at the Alterra coffeehouse on the lakefront is fan-fucking-tastic. That place also made a raspberry-dark chocolate dessert goodie that is one of the best things I have ever eaten. I have only seen it there the one time, but if something like it is on the menu, get it.
RandyH
John, that is such a sweet love story that I am about to puke.
Seriously, she is a lovely dog and I would love to have a companion like that myself. But to read you ramblings about how in love you are with your dog, I really just want to vomit. Really.
Find a girlfriend, or a boyfriend if that’s more your thing and tell us all about that. You’re moving into Rick Santorum territory here, really.
Omnes Omnibus
@RandyH: No one, human, canine, or feline, has ever loved you, right?
ruemara
I have to admit, I sort of feel this way about my cats. I don’t know how I ever lived without a Kage trying to kill me with his loving twining between my feet as I walk. Or Takkun’s deeply concerned face as he reports that there could possibly bowl visible beneath his dry, so I need to hurry an put more in. I adore them. And I’m blessed by their presence.
Jebediah
Whenever I see these “I love Lilly so much” posts when I am at work, it makes me really want to shirk my work and rush on home and give my pups some love. Luckily I don’t have that much left to do before I can scram.
CT Voter
Lily is a fortunate dog, and Lily’s human is a fortunate human.
Kismet.
Cliff in NH
I Luv my Molly.
ps. she is faster than Lily!
asiangrrlMN
Cole, you are a sweetie. I feel that way about my boys, one who is snuggled up to my side and the other who is on my lap. They are my heart (Raven) and soul (Shadow). I love how Raven sticks to me like glue and how Shadow is more aloof but will suddenly stops in front of me and arches his back. That’s his way of demanding pets.
They make my world so much brighter.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cliff in NH: Beau could have kicked Molly and Lily’s asses. He was kind of dumb that way.
eemom
I feelz ya, John Q. Cole. I totally feelz ya on this.
While I was growing up as a NYC apartment kid, I always longed for a dog, and never had one.
Fast forward to age 28. Me and the then-BF, now husband, came upon our First Generation of doggies — how it happened is another charming dog-story that I will save for another time — Max (Shepard-Doberman mix) and Rambo (3 legged miniature pinscher). I was so madly in love with those doggies. They gave me more happiness than the entire human race combined and multiplied by eleventy-three.
They are no longer with us now — but our Next Generation, Maggie (spotted mix of …..Dalmatian? Pointer?) and Rocky (yellow Lab mix), are.
And it is hard to know what to say about the heartbreaking fact that these blessed creatures have shorter lives than we do. Except that there are always others who will come along to bring renewed love and joy, while never replacing their beloved predecessors in our hearts.
pjcamp
That’s the One True Dog. There will be others but there won’t be her.
My Sugar is a 50 lb Border Collie. About once a day, she wants to climb up in my lap. Not for long, but she acts like a puppy again. Usually mornings. When she wants me to go outside with her, she stamps her feet and howls like a motorboat.
Same thing.
And it is those little moments that will stick with you for the rest of your life.
eemom
@Omnes Omnibus:
srsly. I mean, is there NO thread topic simple and innocent enough to be immune from infestation by the dregs of trolldom?
Anne Laurie
@Swishalicious:
I will chime in here, since I was one of the people who encouraged John to bring Lily home with him: Lily is a mixed breed of unknown origin, adopted out of the same shelter where he’d found Tunch. He didn’t intend to add a dog to his household, but he couldn’t get her out of his thoughts once he saw her.
This is by far the best way to acquire one’s Perfect Dog, if you’ve got the stones for it… find a shelter you can stand to visit on a regular basis (a good shelter will always have use for an extra pair of hands, whether ‘hand gentling’ the occupants, cleaning out cages or stuffing envelopes), show up & do the jobs, and wait for the dog that you can’t stop talking about to arrive.
If you can’t go that route, the internet (as with every other human endeavor) is a second-best substitute. Does your lady have a specific breed in mind? If so, research that breed, find the online rescue groups, and start winnowing. If she just wants “a dog”, talk about what that means to her (a lap cuddler, a running partner, an incentive to get out & about, whatever), and discuss what your individual and joint limits are.
When I decided I wanted a dog, it was so I could participate in AKC obedience classes. My Spousal Unit, who was just ‘my first solo housemate’ back then, said if he had to live with a dog, he wanted “an honorary cat” — one small enough to fit in a lap, preferably with a silky coat (but not too long), and not “push-faced”. He likes long-haired dachshunds, but they’re prone to back problems & not very obedience-competition-oriented; I liked French bulldogs, but he thinks they’re nightmarishly ugly. (I also like bull terriers and chow chows, neither of which breed could ever be considered suitably for an inexperienced couch-potato owner.) We went to a dog show to look at Shetland Sheepdogs, and he said, “What are those adorable little dogs in the ring over there?” Those dogs turned out to be Papillons… and, fortuitiously, one of the Papillon breeders we met that day had a partner looking for a home for a puppy that wasn’t up to beauty-contest standards. That puppy would turn out to be the first of an overlapping chain of seven (so far) Papillons, including our current three, all adopted via the internet, two from different breed-specific rescue groups & one via Petfinder.
Omnes Omnibus
@eemom: No.
ETA: And Beau would have bitten the living fuck out him if he were still alive.
Anne Laurie
@pjcamp: Glad to hear Sugar is still going strong!
Cliff in NH
@eemom:
x-cuuuse me but WTF is your problem?
You luv defending trolls or something?
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie: I still say there’s some Shiba in there. The similarities are just too stark for anything else.
Quaker in a Basement
There it is. That’s what good dogs do.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cliff in NH: I think you misunderstood.
eemom
@Cliff in NH:
say whuu…?
Anne Laurie
@Yutsano: How often do you find a Shiba running loose in West-by-gawd-Virginia?
My vote remains Chihuahua-plus-something, because there’s plenty Chihuahuas suffering from ‘Elle Wood’s purse dog’ popularity. Also, that Lily-lurves-her-JC personality? Toy dog people-pleaser genes; Shibas bond fiercely, usually just to one person, but they’re notoriously domineering little alpha-basterds, not lap-sitting cuddlers. If we’re to believe Cole, Lily circulates at his drunken bashes like a little four-legged fifties housewife, making sure everyone feels at home. A Shiba, in my experience, would alternate between stealing food off unguarded plates and “playfully” threatening anybody too polite to tell them off.
Cliff in NH
Sounds like a troll to me.
Asshole too.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cliff in NH: Fair enough. Now why are you attacking eemom?
fuckwit
People become amazingly attached to pets. I’ve done it. Yep, it can seem kinda creepy at times, but it’s also a pretty normal part of human nature.
Cole has no kids, correct? Well, this is it then. It’s dogs from here on in. They’re kinda like kids that never grow up, they just grow old. Human nature to become completely attached to them.
Cliff in NH
@Omnes Omnibus:
It looks like we are all in agreement, I made a bad interpretation of a reply to you, I’m just so sick of trolls, I over reacted, clearly in the opposite of what was intended.
Sorry eemom.
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie: There are variations in all breeds. I have seen lazy border collies and such. Plus markings don’t always determine the temperament especially in a mixed breed dog. If the shiba were crossed with a more halcyon mix in there then Lily would be her mild mannered self.
And do we know Lily has lived her entire existence in West Virginia? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Anne Laurie
@Yutsano: Oh, sure, speculate away. We’ll never have “proof”, so it’s a good game for a Friday night on the toobz…
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie: It’s not like we haven’t had this
argumentdebate before. :) Plus I’m a bit out of it from braining my skull today anyway.Stentor
John, I feel the same way about my 12-year old kitteh Sneakers, a black tom with a mangled right ear that he got in a fight about a week before I got him. He sleeps beside me every night, and won’t go to sleep until I give him his nightly good night grooming and all-around massage or some cat treats or both.
Then when he gets up to go prowl around, I grab him, he puts his head down because he knows what’s coming next. So I kiss him on the top of his head between his ears which I know he likes because I can hear him over-trill (like a short little high-pitched screaming purr) every time I do it. He eventually comes back and lays down beside me or by my feet.
He’s my snuggle buddy, just like your Lily, both in the bed, and on the couch watching TV. Pet love is the best.
Triassic Sands
@Yutsano:
Wow. A lazy border collie. That’s got to be as rare (or nearly as rare) as an intelligent Republican.
Of course, Lily wasn’t born in W.VA. (almost heaven). She was born in Heaven and sent to Earth to make John Cole a better person. John’s shaky conversion from Republicanism was just divine preparation to make him a fit owner for a vulnerable creature.
Jebediah
@Triassic Sands:
Well it may be because I am +1 bowl but that is kind of lovely.
Carbon Dated
In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included dogs. That’s not to pick on dogs. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on man, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality. …If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to man-on-dog sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.
Susan
We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. In return, dogs give us their all. It’s the best deal man has ever made.”
— Margery Facklam, Award-Winning Children’s Science Author
Bob In Pacifica
My Arabella, a tiny little old cat, is my best friend. She wakes us up in the morning, she insinuates herself into my lap. She looks into my eyes and makes bisquits on my chest. I’m on the road now. The first morning I was gone my girlfriend came downstairs to discover Ara had thrown up on the couch. I think that was a little protest over my absence. She emailed me a photo of the throwup. My girlfriend, not my cat.
harlana
Awwwww. John, whenever you do meet that “special someone,” she’d better be prepared to forever be second in your life! =)
I can’t think of any cuter competition, however
harlana
Do you ever give her furberts? My cat is now 16 and I’ve started scooping her up when I come home from work and giving her furberts on her furry belly. It’s not her favorite thing, but hey, I gotta get something out of this.
Hawes
Holy Cow! Santorum was right!
First gays get married in Massachusetts and before you know it Cole is marrying his dog in West Virginia.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
brettvk
For me, the best part of dog companionship is how their eyes get all watery and half-closed when I give them massages, and how they give little huffy sighs of contentment afterward.
El Tiburon
@Hawes:
Goddamn you to hell! I just wandered in to leave my “Santorum was right” comment.
Ok, then: Get a room already,
WereBear
Tristan adores furberts and forehead kissing. He gets tired first, but recharges quickly.
They are all special, and some are even more so.
HeartlandLiberal
We bond with our animals. It is human nature.
Go Google “human dog coevolution” for the thinking on that relationship.
We have always been cat people, but have the same sort of close relationship with them. We have three now, and they are just members of the family, basically.
Actually, a close relationship with domestic animals is a very healthy thing.
Just watch out for the cats that predict death.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7129952/Cat-predicts-50-deaths-in-RI-nursing-home.html\
Professor
BTW,what has happened to Rosie, the most maligned dog in the Balloon Juice blogosphere!
Betty Cracker
Dogs bring more joy to the wretched human race than we could ever possibly deserve. May you and lovely Lily have many, many happy years together.
KRK
The photos are out of sequence. Where is “heaven3”? WHAT IS JOHN COLE HIDING?
P.S. I’m sincerely happy for you and Lily, but I’m still waiting for my “Team Tunch” t-shirt to become available at the Balloon Juice store.
Nevgu
Makes total sense. Soul mates need to be at the same intellectual level after all.
Wrong on Everything Cole + a dog. A match made in heaven.
eemom
@Betty Cracker:
amen to that
DonkeyKong
Cole, this is what Rick Santorum has been warning us about. Dog’s and fat man living together, MASS HYSTERIA!!!
love
It is so cute! :D
Elizabelle
You and Lily rescued each other. It’s lucky to have one perfect pet. (Which is the case chez Cole, as you recount often.)
John: could you some day put up links for each pet? It would be cool to read the archives on when you first saw Lily, her first days with you, making Rosie run behind the car. Anything Tunch.
(Yeah, in your free time. Such as it is.)
But I love the pet sagas and pet drama here.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: Until Cole gets to that…
I have this one bookmarked because someone linked to it a few weeks/months ago – it’s the day John found Lily:
https://balloon-juice.com/2009/06/05/i-think-this-is-the-one/
Roy Greene
the world is a better place when it is just my dog and me.
john hiatt
LT
You’re a good man, John Cole.
My wife got a five-week-old puppy Aussie cattle dog in Sydney. Brought Blanche” to America, I got to be Blanche’s OBF for the last six or so years of her life, and she let me all the way in, not one of those “I’m a one-person dog” dogs – let me all the way in. Wicked smart, wicked obstinate, wicked good herder of children, stealer of items in purses, cuddler and groaner and kisser extraordinaire. She died at 19. Nine-friggn-teen. My wife lived with Blanchie for 19 years, on two continents. Can you imagine what she felt when that good doggie went? Ai yai yai. That was her one doggie. Maybe mine.
JoyChan
My daughter had a tree fall though her house, and had to move into an apartment; she could only afford the pet deposit for 1 pet. Choosing to keep her cat (my Grandkitteh) she asked if I would take her chihuahua “for a few months’ until she could get another place. I have always had big dogs (as well as kitties), but of course said okay. (Moms, right?)
I have never had a dog love me as much as IttyBitty! And she ain’t goin’ anywhere! In fact, I got caught singing to her by my daughter who threatened to retch if she heard such again. Told her to eff-off! So I wake every morning singing to the tune of Wooly-Bully “IttyBitty–sweet-n-pretty. IttyBitty, IttyBitty, Sweet-n- Pretty–CheeWaaWAA!
And, yes, I do make my own self sick!
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl:
Thank you.
Fiona, indeed.