whaaa happened?

i had a good opportunity to practice not worrying about things last week as my dad got ready for his surgery. thank goodness, all went well, and he is recovering quite nicely.

however, i did experience one of the scariest moments of my life on friday. today, i am relatively recovered, though i still have moments of panic.

i was home on thursday and friday for my dad's surgery, and my folks were still in the process of getting their intarweb connection back following the power outage. a representative from their provider came on friday evening and took a look at the situation. we kept closing the door behind him and let him know that Maddy came to us as a runaway and that he needed to be careful.

(as an aside - when we first got Maddy, she ran down our driveway, which leads right onto highway 68. cars going 60 mph in two directions aren't exactly dog friendly. fortunately, a kind-hearted passerby stopped his car and Maddy ran straight to him. he called my folks and they drove down to get Maddy. ever since, she's always been on a leash out front.)

to his credit, Joe was good about closing the door after that. she kept wanting to say hi to this guy, who we'll call Joe since that's his name. we could tell that Joe wasn't a dog person, but he was friendly enough with her. we put her in the back room of the house and put up her "baby gate" to keep her back there. she was really good and didn't cry or try to barge through the gate (she never has, really). but then he had to go to the back room so my mom let her outside in the backyard.

Joe hung around for a bit longer and did as much as he could do. when he was leaving, my mom went to bring Maddy inside since we were going to go see my dad at the hospital. i was out front signing papers for him, etc. and heard my mom calling and calling. that was weird, because Mads always comes running to us right away when she knows she's going to come inside. i finished up with Joe and he stayed in his truck checking for his next job. i went into the house and saw my mom with one of the most panicked looks ever. she had already checked for Maddy out back twice and our little girl wasn't coming. we canvased the house again and after not finding her, i ran back outside and asked Joe if he opened any of the gates while he was outside. he said yes, one on the side of the house. f*ck. fu(k. fuc&. i told him to move his truck right away so i could get my car out of the garage.

i flew back into the house, got my keys, and looked for Maddy all around our house. the phone rang - i thought it was our neighbor calling to say that Maddy was visiting their dogs, Annie and Breezy. nope - it was my dad, and i had to pretend like everything was fine. got off the phone, went back outside to the pitch black. i got in the car and drove down the front driveway to the highway. no obvious sign of Mads, but i didn't want to call her in case she was across the highway. all i saw were oncoming cars and bright headlights. i drove back up, checked the neighbor's yards. no Maddy.

my mom and i were frantic, then all of a sudden we heard this jingling coming from the non-highway side of the road. my mom aimed the flashlight in that direction and i swear, seeing Maddy come running to us was one of the best feelings ever. Joe confirmed that we found Maddy and then left (but he didn't help us look for her). we escorted Maddy inside, i went and closed the gate and checked the other ones. by the time i got back inside my mom and i were both sobbing. Maddy was handing out kisses and wagging her tail, not really aware that we were looking for her so frantically.

Mads got so many hugs that night it was unbelievable. i was tempted to sleep on her bed with her! we finally did get to go visit my dad that night, but didn't tell him about Maddy's adventure until he was back home the next day.

i still get all teary just thinking about it. i can't even fathom how parents of missing children feel...it is too hard to think about.

for now, i am sleeping again and don't feel the need to hold Maddy all day long. (not that i don't do that when i'm home anyhow...)

so that's our adventure. one i'd rather not relive any time soon. fortunately, it had a good outcome and Maddy is getting treats just for being cute.