A Beautiful but Sad Day

The weather couldn’t be any better than it is right now in Bountiful, Utah. Yesterday, a weak front blew through bringing a few scattered showers that cleansed the air and perked up the vegetation. Today skis are blue, wind is calm, and the current temperature is 62°; on the way to a perfect 74. Still there is a pall that hangs over the Silver household: our beloved dog Baby is missing.

I don’t usually think of the dog as beloved when she is around, however. Baby can be quite an annoyance at times—especially when she smells our exercise shoes and thinks she gets to go with us. The mutt will start barking and bouncing and racing around as if possessed until we give in and let her come, or sternly say “no” and then quickly look away so we won’t have to see the disappointment in her eyes. Like the cat in the movie Shrek II, the dog has a way of melting our hearts with its expressive eyes. I hesitate to imagine Baby’s eyes yesterday when she began to realize she was alone—abandoned by the carelessness of her owners at their son’s rental property. That none of said owners realized said carelessness until 6 hours later is another sad component of this tragedy.

It all began yesterday when our busy Saturday morning was interrupted by a call from our son the landlord, reporting that the grapes on the rental property vines were ripe for picking. We dropped everything, gathered up a basket and a bucket, and piled into the SUV. At first I told Baby she could not come but was out voted 2-1; even the dog knows how to play the mother and child against me. They probably looked into her eyes.

I honestly don’t remember seeing the pooch after we arrived at the house and began plucking the grapes. Little Mil said she was there just before we left at 1 PM but he too was oblivious to her absence until almost 7.

This isn’t the first time we have lost a family member. Many years ago, when our middle son was 9 or 10, Mom and the kids went to the Salt Lake County Fair with a boat load of cousins and extended family. Because the concession prices were so high at the fair, they stopped at a local shop after leaving the fair grounds to get ice cream cones. It was only when Mrs. Silver wound up with an extra ice cream that she realized her young son was missing. That story had a happy ending and fortunately for me, I didn’t hear the story until after the ending had taken place so I was spared the worry. Misplacing the dog is bad enough; I can’t even imagine losing a child.

Well, actually I can. I was there when we lost our middle daughter at the Utah State Fair and our youngest daughter at Disneyland. In both of these cases (as was also the case with our son) kind people found the children and kept them safe until we arrived to claim them. I hope the same can soon be said of the doggy.