Frozen

Have you ever had one of those incidents when you know that THIS moment is the moment that could change everything? A combination of change that could affect your life, your outlook, how you view the world around you? At the time, you’re not even sure what the outcome will be so you’re stuck in it, waiting to see if your life will continue on as it was…or not. We had one of those moments last night, and thankfully (hopefully!) our life will continue on as usual.

It started out as a normal night, after dinner and running some errands I convinced Cabe that our dog DEFINITELY needed his nightly walk. Aussie’s don’t take kindly to sitting in the house all day long licking themselves. They need to feel like they accomplished something, ANYTHING, to be happy. In our dog’s case, it means getting enough energy out of him that he won’t feel the need to rummage through the garbage can, eat the remnants of last night’s corn on the cob, have a stomach ache and eat as much grass as possible and later puke it up at 1 am. So that the first thing I *GET* to do on my birthday is clean up this mess….anyway…. we have the same route we follow every night. We start off walking in our neighborhood, and then end up doing a few laps around the park before heading home. On this night however, Cabe had found an abandoned tennis ball and so when we got to the park we let Bear off his leash and let him chase the ball around. You can see where this is heading. One of the throws headed straight for the street. Caleb yelled at Bear to not go after it, and I went from watching Caleb, to the dog. I yelled back that it was okay, the ball had stopped on the grass before the street. However, Bear gets insanely excited when chasing a ball and sometimes he doesn’t stop soon enough and his feet knock the ball in front of him. It happened then, and THIS is the incident that is etched in our brains; the one that will no doubt stay with us for a long time. The moment that could change our lives - the one that stood still. Caleb was screaming Bear’s name, and I was in complete shock as I watched – that sickly thud, the screeching tires, the dog’s yelps. Luckily the car didn’t actually run over him, as much as it pushed him forward, and then swept him under it, pinning him. When the car stopped I finally managed to MOVE, and ran up to where Caleb was trying to coax Bear out from under the car. When he finally did the smell of singed fur followed, and loose hair burst into the light of the headlights. I remember touching him and feeling the burned hair, and sort of looking from him to Caleb, and the driver in a daze. We managed to get him to the side of the road, and the car drove off. It wasn't until after he left that I felt angry that he didn't feel it necessary to at least see if the dog he hit was okay. Caleb ran home to get the car, and I sat with Bear, who was strangely acting himself, wanting desperately to follow Cabe. We got him to the vet’s (why Albany doesn’t have an emergency vet is beyond me…) and he seems to be doing okay. A few staples to heal a cut, pain medication, hopefully this will be all he needs. He’s definitely sore, and moves painfully slow, but hopefully that’s all it is – soreness. I know he’s just a dog, that if this had happened to a child it would be much worse. But for those few seconds when I was rendered unable to move I thought about what it would be like to not have him around, how strange that would be. I’m glad that this moment, this incident, hasn’t changed our lives as drastically as it could have. He’s a very lucky mutt.