This is Maggie. She came to live with us Christmas of 2005. She was a catharsis for my wife, Nancy, whose only two grandchildren were moving 200 miles away from us as their Dad was beginning a medical residency. She was the cutest little 8 week old puppy ever. She won her way into all of our lives. She was playful and frisky and loved everyone who came within her reach, instantly. She was my walking partner and constant shadow. She saw me through a very hard time almost exactly a year ago when my wife was in a health crisis. I would leave and be at the hospital all day long and then return home sometimes late at night. She was always deliriously happy to see me and anxious to hear all about how her mama was doing and when was she coming home.
She was a lazy sort, like myself. She loved to roll over on her back and put her feet up on the entertainment cabinet/bookshelf whilst I was in my recliner and soon we would both be snoring. Often I would awaken to find that she had matriculated to lie by the side of my recliner so that when I would awaken I would have easy access to her ears or belly both of which she loved to have scratched and rubbed.
To be with her brought a sense of peace and contentment that is hard to describe. The love of a dog is like listenting to music that you love. It strikes some sort of harmony within your soul. Dogs never speak to us but they communicate in a way that must be very much like how spirits communicate to one another. It is like how you can look at your wife and know exactly what she is thinking. How you can hold a baby and feel like there is no other physical connection on earth more important than that one at that particular moment.
Maggie left us yesterday through a pool accident that caused her to drown. I had carelessly left the kiddie gate unlatched to the pool and she got in and must have walked out on the pool cover and slipped underneath it. My poor wife called me while I was golfing with my son Drew and told me that she could not find Maggie. She drove the neighborhood as I connected the dots as to what happened. I left the course and my son followed me home and I found her right where I thought she would be. I will carry the image of her right there for the rest of my life. When she needed me most I was off playing. Because of my negligence her life ended. Had I only had that gate locked she would still be here with us.
I know that she harbors no malice towards me. She is incapable of such. I just came from taking her remains to our veterinarian. She will be cremated and we will bury her remains in our back yard along with Pokey and Cleo. My soul is in turmoil. I cannot stop weeping. However, I know that there will come a time quickly when my mind will rest and my soul will be soothed. I will experience that peace that surpasseth understanding. It is provided for us by an all loving Saviour who accounts for all living emotion and experience. He provides us the ability to live within our relative scope of inadequacy. His grace will spill out and wash over me and I will return to vitality and wholeness.
I will miss my little Maggie. I did love her so,
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