WISDOM WHISPERS

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Lola...

Lola…

Life can change in a blink and priorities can catch up with us even quicker than that. Even though a good many of us strive to count our blessings one by one, we’ve been so overly favored that it’s a lot like counting sheep; we get weary and fall asleep…

Odd thing about bad news and the things we dread; we’re rarely witness to them. We find out after the fact. Maybe that’s one of those blessings that are hard to see, therefore, difficult to count.

“Lola’s not in the backyard,” my wife informed me with a tone that was laced with worry and annoyance. Our eleven-year-old Lhasa Apso has become an escape artist in the last couple of years.

It’s a rare transformation when a dog that’s scared of everything except lizards, birds, and squirrels, becomes a courageous traveler. The same dog that loathed her leash and often needed to be carried on walks suddenly yearned to see the world, and the big one beyond our private cul de sac.

“I’m not going for her this time,” my wife added.

The last time the Houdini dog disappeared was when my sister was staying at our house watching Lola and Larry. My sister broke the news of Lola’s escape. She was horrified but was relieved to find Lola attempting to break back into the backyard via the gate on the east side of our house.

That’s where I started my search for the disobedient dog that has been brought back to our house by a couple of neighbors, my wife, the kids, and yours truly and most all of us more than once or twice.

I didn’t call for her. That’s what I normally do, and with a tone of anger in my voice. That tends to make her tuck her tail and book it back home. I also usually start in the cul de sac in my search when Lola is on the loose.

One of the neighbor kids was leaving for school or work as I gazed west into the cul de sac hoping to see the familiar grey hairball… nothing. I jogged out to the street to beat the automatic gates. I slowed to a walk after I knew I’d have enough clearance to beat the closing gates.

Strange… even now I don’t recall coming back in the gates; using the dial pad for re-entry.

It’s about fifty feet from our gates to 56st, one of the busier main streets in the northeast valley.

I’d made it about thirty feet from the gate, cars blazing by around fifty miles an hour. I saw them serve.

Then I saw Lola…

She’d been hit and died instantly.

Even knowing the laws of averages, it was the last thing I suspected. Consciously anyway…

As heartbreaking as it is to lose my little friend that I cleaned up after, the one who punched me with both paws to let me know it was dinner time, was even worse seeing the hearts of my wife and girls melt through their eyes.

It’s a fallen world and one we tend to take the good days for granted in, even knowing a tough one could come with the next sunrise… or blink.

What I am certain of is this; our Father has purpose for all things in life and uses all things for His will and purpose. Our job is to seek those things. And despite the sadness in a day when we seek His will and purpose…
… wisdom whispers.