Please note: When James Spann designed the 33/40 Blog, he included a category, Miss Molly. That is where this story will be stored. I really appreciate him doing that and I have never abused the privilege because I know this is mainly for weather.
Please scroll down to see a photograph made this week of my little pal. I am going to place that on my computer as background, so I will be working weather but smiling at Molly.
I wanted to write a longer “My Tiny Corner of the World” today to celebrate Molly’s fifth birthday tomorrow, August 25. It was a strange streak of luck that we have had Molly in our lives.
My wife flew to Layton, Utah nearly five years ago because of a serious illness concerning her mom. While there, she stayed with her sister. They owned a young Shih-tzu named Meagan. While there, she noticed that Meagan rang a little tiny bell on the back door when she needed to go out.
First thing I knew, I noticed a charge on our VISA card coming across my computer screen at home. It seems that my wife had purchased a dog. I was not in favor of that, because we had previously had bad luck with three before then. When she bought our puppy from Canine Connections, she picked out another one and was about ready to settle with it. However, she noticed in the corner of her eye a tiny little black puppy with a white chest that seemed friendlier than the rest and was wagging her tail continuously. The little puppy put her paws up on the fence as if to say, “Take me, take me.” So, that was to become Little Miss Molly.
When Little Miss Molly walked into our home on a Sunday afternoon for the first time, there were about 7 people here. She walked past all of them, came over to me, placed her little paws on my knee, looked at me straight in the eye with those big eyes and her tail was swishing like one of those cardboard church fans. That is what I call instant bonding. She has had me wrapped around her paws ever since.
Amazingly, I have calculated that Little Miss Molly and I have walked 1,700 miles together around our walking track since she has been here. My tires are worn out, but she is still going strong. If we could straighten those miles out and never turn around (which Miss Molly seemingly wanted to do a lot of times), we would be NW of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan this morning. (I still love that great song, “Just a Little South of Saskatchewan” by the Sonny James band.)
If we had walked in a straight line to the west, we would be approaching Los Angeles. Or straight south, we would be near the Panama Canal assuming we could walk on water across the Gulf of Mexico. We have walked around our track so many times, that we know where every little bush, every tree and every house is. She knows where every person lives that loves her and plops down to wait for them to come out and love her. We always pause at the Old Crow Motel. It was named that the very first day we walked, because two old crows were in the top of that semi-dead tree at sunrise in a big family fight.
I know I sound like Little Miss Molly is the only dog in the world. I definitely do not think that. I have received literally dozens of e-mails in the last several years from all over the USA with examples of how people really love their animals. With Miss Molly, even if I had a bad day, she would reverse that quickly. I am a lighthearted type of person and never get uptight, even when a tornado is on the ground. Even if I did, having Molly around would be like having a tranquilizer.
I just wish all the world was like Little Miss Molly. No armies would be needed, there would be no political insults and certainly no dogs being euthanized because they were not mean enough to fight. That story still devastates me to this day.
Finally, I wish Miss Molly could be with me another hundred years. By then, we would both be in wheelchairs, but still happy as a lark. Life goes on.
I apologize for this long story. I won’t do that again anytime soon.
