Where are my dogs...

What an afternoon we've had. So, as I was deep in thought typing my last post, my husband called me. I was speaking with him on the phone and happened to brag about how quiet our 3 dogs were being in our back yard. He joked that maybe someone opened the gate and let them out. I laughed and decided I should go check on them. As I looked outside, I did not see any dogs. I walked out there and see the gate... wide open. "OH NO! The gate WAS open! The dogs are GONE!", I yelled into the phone. I quickly rushed back into the house to grab my car keys and start the search. As I am driving around yelling their names and asking random people on the street if they've seen any dogs, I am starting to freak out at the realization that my dogs could be gone. Not another tragedy. I was just talking about how I need to snap out of this - how am I going to get over the loss of Bethany if I now have to deal with the loss of my 3 best doggie friends. Oh God, I pled, please please please let me find my kids. What an awful feeling. I kept picturing that I would never see them again. Someone would see how great they are and keep them or they would get injured or killed. I can't lose them too. I just can't.

So, I kept driving. I was trying to think like the dogs. Where would they go? Ah... the park. But, they were not there. Luckily, I happened to ask some people sitting across the street from the park with their own dogs and voila! - they had the answer I was looking for. They said they had seen all 3 dogs and that they were picked up by Animal Control about an hour before. Whew! They were gonna be ok! They could come home again!!

Then a whole new feeling of despair came over me. The next wave of what if's. What if Gus bites the Animal Control officer? What if the officer isn't careful enough with Haley and she re-injures one of her back legs? Oh my... the what if's become endless. Sometimes I really wish I could turn off that what-if mechanism in my head.

Either way, everything worked out. We were able to pick the dogs up and bring them home. They all seem just fine. They probably enjoyed their adventure. I thank God that they are safe. I realized that I have some really great creatures in my life, both human and four-legged. I take for granted that they will always be around. This helped me to appreciate them just a little more. So, I am so thankful for the things I do have and not really thinking about what I don't. Hopefully, this realization lasts in my mind for awhile...