*Note: Aubrey passed away on 5 September 2024. It has taken me this long to be able to write about it.
To most of those who knew her, she was simply Aubrey.
She was also variously known as:
Aub-Bob (thanks, Aunt Marv)
Aubrianna
Aub-uh-ree
Bag o' Bones (toward the end, when she got so skinny, and we'd refer to Major, who was getting grumpy, and Aubrey together as Grumble Groans and the Bag o' Bones)
Bean Toes/Little Bean Toes
Choop/Little Choop/Choop Mama ("choop" being short for chupacabra, a reference to the strange way she would skulk around when she was wet)
Flopsy (those ears)
Fluzzleflug (no clue)
Fur-dinand Magellan/Pup-gellan (her tumor made her walk around in big circles as though exploring)
Gein Puppy (she removed a stuffed animal's face and wore it)
Girlie-Pop
Little Bit
Little One
Mama/Little Mama/Tiny Mama
Mean Thing (I mean, she was)
Miss Ma'am
Miss Mama
Nugget/Little Nugget/Nug-a-lug/Nuggins
Pee Pants (she just decided, after years of being housebroken, that she no longer cared where she peed)
Poop-a-loop/Pup-a-lup
Princess Furry Face
Princess Little Piddles
Sack o' Tatoes (when she was sleepy)
Self-Care Queen (she developed a habit of simply putting herself to bed, like an Irish Goodbye, when she was ready)
Tippy Taps (those toenails, baby girl)
Weasel (she looks like a weasel)
Yoda Ears (she never grew into them)
Aubrey, a yorkie-feist mix, was born to humble beginnings in Morton, Mississippi, destined to be a barn dog, a ratter. She was the runt of a litter, and the family to whom she was born had a daughter who happened to be my wife's roommate at the time. She offered up the little flea-riddled fluff, no bigger than a tennis ball. Despite Nikki's best efforts, they shared an uneasy detente for a few weeks, marked by Aubrey's refusal to sleep unless serenaded by the dulcet tones of Mumford and Sons. Nikki got her a cute little crate and decorated it with paint pens, but Aubrey preferred the lost sock horde under Nikki's bed. I met her about two weeks later.
Aubrey saw us through Nikki's graduations (MUW, Missouri S&T, Ole Miss Law, Cardozo LLM) and my graduations (Ole Miss Law, JAG School), and several moves: Columbus to Waynesville to Fort Rucker to Brookhaven to Brooklyn to Queens to Plainfield. She lived in Mobile, and visited Oxford and Jackson, among numerous other exotic and exciting locales.
There were times when Nikki and I were geographically separated. Aubrey stayed with me, and kept me sane through some of the darkest moments of my life. She was a troublemaker, a snuggle bug, and the most loyal friend imaginable.
She was so dearly loved, but she loved even harder than she was loved. We crate- and potty-trained her, and taught her to sit, jump up and down onto and from the couch or bed, and other things, but she taught us to love fully and fearlessly, to give ourselves over completely to another, and to trust someone else with everything.
Over the next however-long, I will be writing about her. I hope to develop a collection of micro-memoirs so I can share the many faces of Aubrey with all of you. She was too much to keep to myself.
Rest in peace, sweet girl. I know you're howling along to American Dad and chasing all the deer in Heaven.
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