10.05.2016

October 4, 2016

White Dog was just about in tears. I held her in my arms. I understood what she was feeling but I let her talk.

"My plan was so perfect, momma!" she sniffed. "Zso and Opal had decorated with their favorite toys and petals from some of the roses dad bought you. I put together a special dinner of noshes for all of us to enjoy. Yo and Benson had your wedding music all cued up and we had plans to all sit and share your wedding album.

"Then this!"

The first "this" was coming home to discover that the stop seal in the toilet tank was no longer sealing and fresh water kept running and running. Steve tried all the tricks of jiggling...removing the lid and manually reseating...of cleaning out the tank...to no avail.

Which led to the second "this." Steve made the decision to run to the neighborhood hardware store and pick up new insides for the toilet. "It will only take a couple of minutes and I will be back and the parts are easy to put in and the problem will be solved." He walked out the door.

I was almost around the corner heading to the office when a sudden movement caught my eye. "Stop! Sachi! Stormer! Get in here! Yo STAY!" As quickly as I could I hobbled to the sunporch and the front door which was standing open.

YoYoMa. was still in a sit stay but the other two were out on the driveway. I stood holding on to the open doorway. "SACHI!" "STORMER! COME!"

Storm paused, but Sachi danced down the drive and across the neighbor's yard. I yelled again. Stormer passed uncertain up and down the drive. Sachi ran across the street. My heart was in my mouth. I am unable to give chase.

I stumbled inside and grabbed the phone, dialing Steve as I went back to the door. "Sachi and Storm are loose. Come home NOW!" I gasped into the phone.

There was a car stopped in the middle of the street. For one heart wrenching moment I thought they had hit my Little Man but they were trying to avoid him as he rushed at their tires.  He ran back on the front lawn. I used my best "I have a treat voice" to try to lure him but he refused to come.

It seemed like a hour but I saw our van coming down the street...and so did Sachi. He ran toward the vehicle. "STEVE!" I waved my arms to get him to stop for fear he would miss seeing the little puff of white. "STOP!!"

Thankfully he got it. Stopped the car. As soon as he stepped out, Sachi ran up to him. On the way up the drive he grabbed Storm's collar and led both inside. THEN he went down the street to get the van. I sagged into the chair, tears streaming and spent.

We practice and drill recalls and stop! sits! all of the time in our house. We have a bazillion plans and backups. They all failed today. I wanted to be angry to shake both boys but I was too rattled.

Steve closed BOTH front doors and went to complete his errand. I held White Dog and we rocked back and forth.

With supervision he was able to finish the repair in half and hour. "Come on Little White Dog of My Heart, you all have worked hard to create a celebration. Let's try to refocus on joy and not these distractions. Today was life, happens every day. It is why love is so important...to get us through all of it."

She licked my teary face and I kissed her nose. She nodded to Yo (my VERY good boy) and the music began to play as Bella, Nilla, Opal and Pearl pulled off the tablecloth to reveal the lovely spread of noshes awaiting us.


5 comments:

Random Felines said...

so very scary and not the way to start a celebration. though mom has this vision of Yo on the front porch all "uh oh"

TwoSpecialWires said...

My heart was in my throat, reading this. I am so relieved there was a happy ending. The reasons to celebrate just multiplied!

Angel Ginger Jasper said...

I was so worried as I started to read. So glad it ended happily and you got to enjoy the celebration. X

Brian's Home Blog said...

Dang, I know that had to scare the heck out of you!

Jans Funny Farm said...

Was this an anniversary celebration gone awry? If so, happy anniversary. If not, glad you all survived the trauma of the day. That was a pretty scary situation with the dogs.