LADY....XO..I miss you

When my brother was younger, he was approached by a friend who's dog had a litter of lab mix puppies..and much to our surprise, Dave walked thru our kitchen door with the runt of the litter ..no bigger than his small hand at the time ,-- swearing to mum on his life and everything he held dear to take care of and love this dear sweet thing...
Obviously my mother's heart melted and "Lady" as she was dubbed became a wonderful friend and companion to all of the family... Although it was technically David's dog the pup turned out to be one who belonged to all of us.
As the story goes ..She was born in the wake of a thunderstorm and for every time the barometer would change she would cower behing the livingroom curtains and moan and cry ..at least a good hour prior to any storm advancing...like she sensed the storm every time!!
Lady also loved spaghetti ( and to all you dog owners who read this ..I know, I know...you dont feed a dog human food (AGGHHH)!! .. she was a great help under the dinner table to dispose of all of the things as kids we never wanted to eat she would eat virtually anything.. until mum served peas one night and not only we didnt like them ..but Lady didn't either and after the dinner table was cleared and mum would sweep up as we did the dishes did she realize we were using her as a garbage can .. so we made sure not to make the same mistake twice...
We taught her to fetch..and chase the cats across from our front porch to the neighbours across the street,(which soon stopped due to the near misses she had from cars going up and down the street)..and how to pull us on the hardwood floors with a tea towel... she was very strong ..and was able to become a mom herself and out of her litter had another Lab who resembled the true breed..and double her size...he was named Buddy and was sent to live on a farm which we were invited to visit with Lady ..at least a couple of times that I remember.
Lady lived a long time....a lot longer than expected for starting out life as a runt and I remember her being about 19 when she died..and listening to her laboured breathing..seeing her fur grayed by her chin and ears.. her eyes following me as I talked with her and told her that if she had to go that it would be alright...and with a quiet whimper she left us.. on the same type of day she came to us ...during a thunderstorm....