There has been no sewing this week.. and I really don't watch much TV, so on these nights when I do sit on the sofa and try to pay attention to the programming that Glenn watches I often find myself sound asleep within minutes. Tonight was one of those nights, my eyes opened on the sofa at around 12:45 AM. I hate that for a few reasons; one is that I just can't stand the thought that all that time I sat there was completely wasted. I didn't work, I didn't clean the house and I hadn't sewn a stitch. Another reason is that there are chores and things I need to do each night before bed and waking up slumped over on the sofa puts me in such a fog that I stomp around the house like an extra in the living dead movie series getting things ready for the next day and letting the dogs out one last time so they don't nudge me with their wet noses at 5:30 AM the next morning. That's the very thing that went wrong this evening...
Those who know us know that our dogs are like real people to us, they're our family. We have laughed many times when we look at each other and realize that we're all sitting on the living room floor while the dogs are nice and comfortable stretched out all over the sofas. When I work from home Cinder (our female lab) lays under my desk, when I sew she lays under my table.. with either her paw or her snout resting on my foot. My son has never slept a day in this house without at least one dog on the foot of his bed, when he was an infant Wiley (our male lab) used to sleep beside the crib, sometimes half way under it. He and Cinder have had a love affair since the day we brought him home from the hospital.
Both dogs watch over him and he loves them so much, the three of them are one unit...
..... which is why it's 3:35 am and I am wide awake taking deep breaths and finally able to relax. I'll explain...
I woke up, on the sofa tonight.. like I said, around 12:45 am.. not very happy to have fallen asleep. I go into my son's room and wake Wiley up to tell him that he needs to get off the bed to go out to go pee before I go into my bed... he groans a bit, stretches, gives us a shake and starts his 11 year old lab lumber out towards the door. I didn't need to wake Cinder up because she, at 7 years old, is still the most playful, friendly and lovable lab ever.. she of course is right behind me the whole time. If I move.. she moves.. she will spring up from a sound sleep to follow me to the bathroom only to sit out side the door and wait for me... then wag her whole self when I open the door...she is ready and we all go to the back door. And that is where it all goes wrong....
We have a fenced in yard. The front facing the street is 6 foot high cedar board fence and the sides and back are 4 foot high split picket. It is convenient because we can simply open the door, they both go down the deck steps and and kill the grass in their favorite spots. Now, I should have known something was wrong immediately because Wiley happens to be the one lab in all of lab-dom who hates getting wet. He loves to swim, but will walk like a cat that has paper bags tied to his feet in wet grass and will choose to stay in if it is raining out.. but not tonight... they both went out happily.. I figured they really need to go since I was late and usually let them out at around 10:30 pm.
Turns out I had failed to stick my head out in the rain to check the front gate which because of the wind and rain was wide open. I closed the door, not knowing and went to get a drink of water and then went to wait by the door for them.. it was odd that they were not running back in for their last snack of the night... they are dogs with very strict routines. But still... I waited.. Not seeing them for about 5 minutes or so I looked out the back window into the yard, I could see the whole yard with the flood lights on.. no dogs.... hmmm maybe they're around the side of the house... I go out in my bare feet, in the rain.. walk around to the side, still inside the gate.. uhhhh no dogs. I then, on my way back to the door, looked at the gate and I instantly felt my heart drop... it was wide open and they were both gone.
I yelled Wiley's name.. and like someone caught in the act he pokes his head over to the open doorway where I can see him as if to say... "Huh? What?". I scolded him for being out in the front yard and he happily trotted over to me with the promise of a piece of doggy chicken jerky, his favorite snack. Cinder, however, was no where to be found. I couldn't see her.. she is all black and it's 1 AM on a dark, rainy night... I can't hear her collar jingling... she's just gone. I freaked just a little... We joke around all the time that as playful and lovable as she is, she is equally daffy.. If she were a human she would be one of those super models who can't spell 'super model'... she's just a beautiful, wonderful dog.. but beyond 'Catch the Frisbee, love the humans' she's not got much more to offer. She passed her obedience classes, she got her canine good citizen badge... she's just a poster child for not knowing enough to come in out of the rain... go figure.
So I run in the house, put some shoes on, grab a flashlight and an umbrella and figure I'd grab her up in the neighbors yard eating some gladiolus or something.... I walk one house away... no Cinder... I walk two houses away, no Cinder, I cover about 3 houses on either side of ours... no Cinder.. now I panick! The very first thing I can think of is 'How am I ever going to tell Jason that I lost his Cinder!?! His girl!!' This boy loves that dog like crazy....
I was completely beside myself... Glenn got in the truck.. drove all around the neighborhood, on the busy roads and couldn't find her. I then took my turn on foot and walked around desperately yelling "Cinder Frisbee!!" something she just can't resist... and there she was... 3:20 AM.. jumping around in someone's yard like it's play time at doggy day care.... she bounded over to me.. I hooked her up and took her home. Glenn and I sat there for an hour.. not able to sleep.. not knowing if we should be relieved, frustrated or frazzled. In the meantime, there's Cinder.. right where she belongs, fast asleep on the sofa.
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