Amelia is home!
I’ve loved many dogs in my life and they’ve all loved me back even more. It’s easy for them. They’re not conflicted by human distractions. They’re dogs, pure of spirit, and if you treat them well they will wiggle inside your heart like no person possibly can because, unlike people, to a dog, you’re all that matters.
She ran from me when a much bigger dog shocked her at the entrance to the veterinarian’s office. She’s always nervous about going to the vet and her fear lunged at her at the door. She slipped her collar and bolted. I chased her down a dangerously trafficked four-lane highway. When she darted across the road I swallowed my heart and followed, terrified that she would be hit, never thinking for a moment that I might be hit.
Amelia’s a lot faster than me and though she stopped a couple of times to look back to see that I was following, she continued her instinctive flight from what she perceived as a predator. In my panic and fear, I yelled at her and that didn’t unconfuse the situation; she didn’t stop, my yelling just assured her Daddy was coming.
Then she was gone, into a wooded area, a muddy bog along a creek, presumably infested with bugs and vermin and quite likely coyotes and bobcats. I sunk up to my knees in the mud, literally, and couldn’t follow.
CarolAnn and I spent the next two days walking the area calling Amelia’s name. We reported her missing to all of the appropriate authorities and veterinary hospitals. We posted signs on the streets and social media. Over and over we kept going back to where we last saw her, calling her name knowing it was useless.
We got a few crank calls from people who had nothing to gain by lying to us, telling us that they had her; nothing except their sick satisfaction. Dogs are pure. Some people are deranged assholes.
CarolAnn and I worried terribly for two nights. The miracle came in a phone call on Saturday while she was at work.
“Did you lose a dog?”
“Did you find one?”
“I think I have her. I was jogging past the creek and saw your flyer.”
She sounded honest. I prayed that this was no crackpot. I asked questions and she gave me great answers.
Stunningly, she was our next-door neighbor.
Reunited within minutes Amelia and I were both physically and emotionally drained.
CarolAnn was in tears when I sent her the picture of us together, hot and haggard.
For the last three nights, four of us have all slept together in our tiny double bed, CarolAnn and me with our pure-of-spirit babies, Amelia and Cricket, who love us unconditionally and without the fear of imagination.
Look, I know this isn’t a big deal story in the grand scheme of things but in the small scheme of hearts, where life really matters, it has changed us all.
