My Two Writing Teachers colleagues and I are hosting the 16th Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge, in which teachers from around the world participate by posting a story per day.

This year, the SOLSC gives me a chance to record memories of our little dog, Indie, who died in January. I want to write these down while they are still fresh, so that my family and can read them later and remember not only Indie, but little slices of life across the years.

Starting from the day Lily came home from the hospital, Indie slept next to her, no matter where she was in our Brooklyn apartment. In the beginning it was next to her bassinet or car seat baby carrier. Then it was next to her crib, and later when she was a little older and we had moved to Vermont, he slept on top of her feet, in her bed.

I loved this about him. When Lily was just a baby, I wrote this poems:

Doggy Haiku I

A furry soldier

stands guard just outside the crib.

Waits... Listens... Sniffs…Wags.

* Originally posted Day 5, 2010 — KidLitosphere Poem-A-Day Challenge for National Poetry Month.

Doggy Haiku II

He rests, chin on paws,

Puppy-dog eyes are alert,

Always on the watch.

* Originally posted Day 6, 2010 — of the KidLitosphere Poem-A-Day Challenge for National Poetry Month.

Doggy Haiku III