The past few days have seemed like an alternate reality. Like D wrote, the simplest decisions have paralyzed me for the past few days.
You readers know that my dad had major surgery yesterday. The good news is that he seems to be doing fairly well. The surgery was to remove a part of his colon and they think it went well. Thanks to those of you that were praying, we really appreciate it.
The bad news is that our puppy has tested positive for a kidney condition - her kidneys are malformed and not functioning like they should. This means that she won't live very long because her body cannot rid itself of toxins like it should. 'A very poor prognosis' was the official word. For those of you that have spent anytime with Em, you know that her world revolves around animals. She is going to be crushed when we have to say goodbye to her - which could be as soon as a month.
And this dog is absolutely one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met. Her disposition is so friendly and she loves every person she has met - a definite extrovert like me. She is smart too, we even taught her how to shake and she almost rolls over on command. She loves to have her belly rubbed and she fetches her toys to play. She is the dog that I always wanted - truly a best friend.
Death is a part of life and for us to forget or ignore that is a mistake - even with young children. Sometimes, the best way to prepare for difficult deaths - because they will come - is to understand them via the experience of an easier death - like the one of a pet. This is what happened to K, understanding the death of her other grandfather through remembering her goldfish, "Goldie" dying earlier that year. We could say that Phoebe might do that for Em. Even so, it certainly won't make it any easier.
We are going to have - I have decided without telling anyone yet - a family prayer time for Phoebe and we are going to pray and lay hands on her. Sure, why not - God could make some kidneys for a sweet five month old puppy if He wanted to.
The third piece of fun and/or stress - depending on how you look at it - is that I've been getting my notes together for this retreat I am speaking at this weekend. [Icing on the cake was how I just deleted all my notes by accident a few minutes ago - luckily I had a backup.] I'm very excited about it, I think it's going to be fun and the stuff I'm speaking on is really a summary of my life and my stories. I'm not sorry we are doing it in the midst of everything else that is going on - I accepted the invitation long before the issues with my dad or Phoebe appeared.
With all this going on, you might be wondering - like I am: just how significant is this weekend going to be?
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