Lucy

Our church was having a parents-night-out event on a recent Friday night, where you could drop your kids off at church for the evening, and the youth group was doing the babysitting. We took advantage of this and went out to dinner with some friends. As we were all leaving the house, both of the dogs ran outside and off into the neighborhood. We had been planning to leave them inside, but decided to just leave them out, since they were not heeding our calls and we were keen to leave. Oh, they will be fine, I said.

But while we were out, a thunderstorm came through the area, as they do this time of year. And little Lucy is one of those dogs who is afraid of thunderstorms, and generally hides under the bed trembling until they are well over.

When we got home, Beale was on the porch, but Lucy was not around, and she did not appear as we turned all of the lights on and called around the neighborhood. Steve stayed up for awhile to see if she would come back, and I tried to sleep. About the time Steve gave up and came to bed, I was unable to sleep anymore, and spent the rest of the night hoping that when it got light, she would come out from wherever she was hiding and come home.

At about 5:45, it was light, and she was not back, and I threw on some clothes and went outside to walk up and down our road - I didn't know what else to do. Not finding anything, I was headed back inside, when I saw one of our neighbors driving up the road. He paused at his driveway, and then I suppose saw me on the porch, and drove up our driveway. He had Lucy - all covered with burrs (and a couple of ticks, I found later). He had found her a couple of miles away in Harborton!

I still can't quite believe that she made it all the way through a couple of miles of woods - alive - and then (miracle) ran into someone who recognized her and knew where she lived. But I am so grateful to have her back, I can't tell you.