SPRING HOPE
May 09, 2016, by Deena @Shoes to Shiraz
Spring is a time of Hope.
Hope for warmer days, a vacation or two, a winning baseball season, new chapters for graduating High School seniors. The green sweeps over the land, color pops and hands get dirty planting pretty posies. Hi sweet friends. I'm Andrea Nine from Living On Cloud Nine. When I first thought of a Spring Inspired Spring Fever post, I thought Spring Fashion, cocktail recipes, or outdoor exercise; but I kept remembering this sweet story I wrote that was considered for a Guideposts publication a couple years ago. It signifies the love that Hope brings…..and that miracles can happen.
My father lives alone on the outskirts of a small town in southern Indiana. At times, loneliness plagues him and he suffers from heart problems. Since I am 250 miles away from him, not to mention, his only child, my worries and prayers for him are plentiful. Therefore, it was to my delight many years ago, when he adopted a five-week old Border collie puppy, which he named Lady.
That precious and smart pup soon became his best friend. No longer did he feel alone, but I too had some peace in regards to the distance between us. I loved when he would call me with tales of his “Lady-Bug”, as he called her. My favorite story was the time a tornado touched down close by. He scooped up Lady and headed to the 100-year-old basement of his brick home. In the dark he heard a crunching noise and shined his flashlight to reveal Lady eating a snail off the concrete wall. It was then he began telling everyone she must have expensive tastes as she liked eating escargot.
Dad, Lady and our oldest son 1999
Dad and Lady 2000
Lady was there for every up and down. She licked his face to wake him up when he had a fainting spell and she laid by the front door for ten days while he was in the hospital recovering from heart surgery. Yet, as all dogs do, around the age of fourteen, she became ill and he had to face her death while saying goodbye at the vet’s office.
My father was distraught. He would not eat or sleep and by no means wanted to hear talk of getting a new dog. I prayed for his strength daily. I asked for him to remember Psalm 147:3 “He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.” Yet, nothing seemed to make him feel better and I often asked for a sign that life would get better for him.
Imagine my delight that beautiful May day when he called me a few weeks after Lady’s passing with a renewed spark in his voice. His closest neighbor, up the hill, had called him, and told him there was something in his back yard but he wasn’t sure what it was, just that it was moving. Dad figured it was a skunk or coon but looking out the kitchen window, my father could not believe his eyes. There, in his back yard, which is fenced in, mind you, sat, you guessed it, a Border Collie puppy, he would later go on to name Duke, that looked just like his “Lady-Bug!”
Dad and Duke today..Two Peas in a Pod
We never did find out how that sweet pup appeared on his lawn that Spring Day. I'd like to think that hope and miracles go and in hand.
We never did find out how that sweet pup appeared on his lawn that Spring Day. I'd like to think that hope and miracles go and in hand.
xoxo
Andrea is a regular contributor to the Blended Blog and shares her fashion, recipes, family and motivation over at Living On Cloud Nine. With the last name of "Nine", she tries to make each day as blissfully happy as possible. Much of that happiness comes from her loving husband and 3 amazing teenage sons.
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