Dog's Treasures {Insp}

"Dog's Treasures"

Lucy and her husband Jim had a dog named 'Lucky.'
Lucky was a real character. Whenever Lucy and Jim
had company come for a weekend visit they would
warn their friends to not leave their luggage open
because Lucky would help himself to whatever
struck his fancy. Inevitably, someone would forget
and something would come up missing.

Lucy or Jim would go to Lucky's toy box in the basement
and there the treasure would be, amid all of Lucky's
other favorite toys. Lucky always stashed his finds in
his toy box and he was very particular that his toys
stay in the box.

It happened that Lucy found out she had breast cancer.
Something told her she was going to die of this disease....
in fact, she was just sure it was fatal. She scheduled the
double mastectomy, fear riding her shoulders. The night
before she was to go to the hospital she cuddled with
Lucky.

A thought struck her...what would happen to Lucky?
Although the three-year-old dog liked Jim, he was Lucy's
dog through and through. If I die, Lucky will be abandoned,
Lucy thought. He won't understand that I didn't want to
leave him. The thought made her sadder than thinking of
her own death.

The double mastectomy was harder on Lucy than her
doctors had anticipated and Lucy was hospitalized for
over two weeks. Jim took Lucky for his evening walk
faithfully, but the little dog just drooped, whining and
miserable. Finally the day came for Lucy to leave the
hospital.

When she arrived home, Lucy was so exhausted she
couldn't even make it up the steps to her bedroom. Jim
made his wife comfortable on the couch and left her to
nap. Lucky stood watching Lucy but he didn't come to
her when she called. It made Lucy sad but sleep soon
overcame her and she dozed.

When Lucy woke for a second she couldn't understand
what was wrong. She couldn't move her head and her
body felt heavy and hot. But panic soon gave way to
laughter when Mary realized the problem. She was covered,
literally blanketed, with every treasure Lucky owned! While
she had slept, the sorrowing dog had made trip after trip
to the basement bringing his beloved mistress all his
favorite things in life.

He had covered her with his love.

Lucy forgot about dying. Instead she and Lucky began
living again, walking further and further together every
day. It's been 12 years now and Lucy is still cancer-free.
Lucky? He still steals treasures and stashes them in
his toy box but Lucy remains his greatest treasure.

Remember....live every day to the fullest. Each minute is
a blessing from G~d. And never forget....the people who
make a difference in our lives are not the ones with the
most credentials, the most money, or the most awards.
They are the ones that care about us.
Received on Sun Dec 17 04:00:09 2006