The healing powers of Keeley

My husband is a very quiet man and at times I may even try to provoke him just to see what kind of response I can get out. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much. During our hard times these last 2 years, he closed up inside himself. We decided to give counseling a try and I made an appointment with a lady that came highly recommended. We went to 3 sessions which were held in her home. Her home was in a beautiful part of town but the stench of animal urine was so bad that I was afraid to sit.These appointments were approximately 90 minutes long. Of those ninety minutes 60 minutes were spent with us listening to her dog stories and other insignificant and boring things that happened to her. I say we only went to 3 sessions because after the 3rd one my husband got in the car and very loudly and not so nicely announces
 "We ARE Cured!"

 End of counseling.

In case you are wondering, yes, I was billed for three 90 minute appointments.  She did help us to identify what we were going through, which was grief for the life we thought we would have.

We could have saved lots of money in not going to counseling but at the time it was the option we had.

Until Keeley came in our lives. Keeley is a 3 year old female black lab/chow mix that is beautiful on both the inside and out.We have always had dogs in our lives but none like Keeley. She came to us after being rescued from an abusive home and it did not take long to realize she may have been more injured than we were.The first week was quick to prove it.

Day one, maybe even hour one, Keeley finds a spot in our wooden fence where she can shimmy out and run. And run she did. My husband calls me from his cell phone to tell me he is chasing Keeley and I should bring the car and help. He was 8 blocks away. I joined in the chase by vehicle. I got close several times but the moment I would jump out of the car, Keeley would bolt. I soon realized that this may have become a game in her mind. I got close a couple of times and she would look at me, smile and run in the other direction.. Yes, it was a smile. Not so much a game for my husband who was following by foot. We stayed in contact by cell phones and he was walking faster than I have seen him walk in recent years. Eventually she got to where I had to park and continue the chase by foot.  About an hour later she found herself trapped between a fence and 2 buildings . Was she trapped or just done with the game? We caught her when she was lying under a shade tree resting...and smiling.

We got home and my husband fixed the fence...or did he???

Day 2, Keeley is on the run again. This time my husband is on foot, I am in the car and I have called my sister to join in the game with her car. What did we ever do without cell phones? At each Keeley sighting we would turn on 2 wheels and head the other way. We did eventually catch her, or maybe she let us catch her. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the fixed fence actually had 2 large phone books against the loose board. hmmm. Next time I will have to inspect my husbands "fixed" project. 

The 3rd time in as many days that Keeley ran, we began the same pursuit, 1 by car and 1 by foot.  This turned out to be a 10 minute chase where she beat us home. I found her in the shop just sitting and waiting...and smiling. That was the last time she had run but she continues to smile all the time.

As I write this, I realize she was running towards something and once she knew we would not hurt her, she realized she was running to us.

Keeley has been a great addition to our family. When things seem ruff or one of us is feeling sad,

we can always count on Keeley to sit and smile.

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