These pictures were taken exactly a month before Lily died. Lily was never sick a day in her life, on November 21st, she walked into our kitchen and collapsed.

I was just fooling around with a new lens and although these are not the greatest photos I ever shot, they are now the most meaningful. These are the last pictures I ever took of Lily.

Here are the things I will always remember about Lily:

Lily did not think of herself as a dog. She thought she was human. I used to say she was a person in a dog suit. In reality she was a beautiful wire fox terrier.

She didn't like other dogs but was never aggressive towards them but wanted nothing to do with them other than a very few. She would not even drink out of a water bowl if she smelled another dog had taken a drink from it.

She was also a very clean and tidy dog and didn't like to get dirty. She walked around puddles, never in them. Although I remember many a time she coming back from the backyard all dirty from chasing the ball.

Her favorite game was fetching the tennis ball.
Her favorite toy was this thing called a "mean chicken"
Her favorite food was cheese, egg, pizza, and fish, AND THEN EVERYTHING ELSE.

We would walk to the bagel store every Saturday and she just loved bagels

When she wanted to play she would show up in the living room and line up all her toys in front of her and sit and stare at me, waiting for a game "where is the chicken".

She liked to sit with me and listen to jazz. She just loved that. We would spend almost every Friday night doing this.

When any of us in the family were sick, she would lie tightly against us and we would start feeling better already.

When she was 2, one day she stood in front of us started to move her lips up and down and we think she was trying to figure out how to talk, but no sound came out. Good try Lily!!!

Both times when we had our daughters and they came home from the hospital she used to guard wherever they were in the house.

She understood English as plain as we do, but could be selectively on what she wanted to understand ;)

She didn’t like when I went out by myself without the family. Both times in the 12 years when I went out for fun, she hid in the dark under the bed and when I went by, she gave me a little snap. She could tell when I was out for play or work. Work was ok, but not out by myself having fun without her or the family.

She was also an escape artist when it came to running out of the door, and a great explorer, you would find her somewhere down the block.

When I told her I loved her, she would always blink her eyes back at me.

If I laid flat on the ground, she could go on kissing me all day.

I used to say "You can buy love, I bought Lily and all the love I can take"

Her warmth and love also made me a better person, trained me as a father for my daughters, and compassion to others.

She was everything I wanted. I will miss her until my very last day.

RIP Lily