While we were gone, I received two phone calls. Then I will get to the photos.
You all know about the one horrible phone call I had with my vet about losing Chloe on the cruise. That was pretty bad, dealing with the guilt of being away and knowing my girl had to spend her last moment alone.
I always have held them in my arms. Each and every one. Chloe was just stubborn enough to want to do things her way though. She certainly walked a different path.
We knew Chloe had that cancer, we bought her a year with the surgery last August. Neither the vet nor I thought I would bring a dog home from that procedure. He called her the Miracle Girl and kept her chart out to show the vet students as they came thought the clinic.
The other phone call was not unexpected either. But blindsided me with the timing.
We have known Chuck and Patsy for years, traveling with them since we met in Alaska across a
dinner table on a cruise way back in the 90's. It was a great friendship that spanned continents, you could say. We would laugh and play games and drink local beers, but Chuck was the only one who ever ate the termites. Minty, he said.
Patsy had a beautiful voice. She would sing in the talent contests and she would always win. The prize was invariably a bottle of champagne and they would come to our room and we'd drink it sitting out on the balcony while Chuck smoked.
I told the story once about saving Chuck's life when he was driving his rig through Baton Rouge and had a heart attack. He ended up having open heart surgery and staying with us till he was able to get back on the road. He talked to Patsy every night.
First Chuck got cancer and surgery, then Patsy got pancreatic cancer and died suddenly 3 years ago. Chuck was devastated. He fell in with the first woman he met at the next truck stop. I use the term woman loosely.
We met her when we were in North Carolina, my opinion didn't change. I would get phone calls from Chuck, lifeline calls I termed them. Just to know someone cared, someone loved him. Well, he made one of those calls while we were gone. I didn't answer. And I didn't call back for a week.
And then he gave up.
When we got back I called his phone and a social worker answered. She assured me they have his truck locked down and he is in the hospital where they are caring for him. Yes, The woman bled him dry, used him, tossed him.
I had known this call would come too, like I said, but it blindsided me just like Chloe did. And if I had been home, it might have gone another direction. Sometimes just a word will make that difference. You know. You just have to listen.
