Molly, Malone, and Other Furry Family Members

This story begins on a very bad day for my husband, Tom, and me.  Our sweet Lab, Molly, had been diagnosed with pancreatitis and left under the watchful eye of the veterinarian.  Our hearts ached because we had not seen any improvement, but we had not given up hope that she would recover.  On the evening of November 3rd, 2009, Tom went straight to the vet from work; I was staying at work into the evening for a meeting.  At 5:00, Tom called and said that Molly wasn't doing well and he was afraid that she might die soon.  A generous co-worker agreed to take my place at the meeting and I was able to join Tom at the vet's.

When I got there, Tom told me that Molly had wagged her tail when she saw him and had tried to get up, but wasn't able to.  We both stayed with her, petted her and talked with her.  We still hoped that something would happen and that she would recover and the vet told us about another possible course of action, but said that he really doubted if she would survive.  Molly then had a seizure which lasted about 15 seconds and we stroked her and petted her, which was really all we could do.  The doctor told us that she would probably continue to have seizures through the night and then would die.  He recommended that we have her put to sleep, which we did, while we held her.  It was one of the hardest nights either of us can remember; Molly was our baby and we had lost her.

Molly came into our lives nine years ago.  She was a beautiful, amber color with eyes to match.  I was working the day we got her, and Tom brought her to the library so that I could meet her.  Of course, I had to show her off to other members of the library staff.  We were both very proud of our new family member.  Our large "people" family was growing up and away; the six children from our blended family were establishing themselves with college, careers, marriage and children, and Molly filled an empty place in our home and in our hearts.  She was especially close to her "Daddy".


The following photographs illustrate their bond.

                                

These photographs show Molly in two of  her favorite places: on the couch (as a pup) and in her Daddy's truck.

As you can imagine, the months after our Molly died were very hard.  I think that they were harder for Tom; I was scheduled to retire in January and my life was pretty full with trying to get things finished at work and preparing for the holidays.  But Christmas Day was especially hard.  A blizzard hit Oklahoma and everyone was advised to stay off the roads.  We were hoping to see several members of our large family, despite the fact that Tom was scheduled to work on Christmas Day.  The only person who could be with us was Tom's son, Jeff, who came in early and couldn't get back to Oklahoma City to be with his children.  Tom had to work as scheduled.  And our Molly was gone.

I am going to stop here and finishing this posting tomorrow.  Sometimes, especially when you are in pain, your heart leads you to unexpected places, even when you think it never could.  The rest of our story is about where our hearts have led us.

Until then,

Annie Joy