We were vacationing with my niece, Adrienne, and family in University Heights, Ohio. It was so nice to visit with her and her husband, Chris, and their 3 daughters over the Labor Day weekend. The 8 and 6 year old loved hanging out with Thelma. They even invited me to play with them in their Barbie room, and I got a lot of baby time with their youngest, born in January. We took walks with Thelma too, including the Cuyahoga Valley National Park trail, and the Botanical Gardens in Cleveland. Thelma even went with me to Urgent Care when I dislocated my left thumb. She also went with me to see a specialist on Tuesday who put my finger back into place. Quite an unforgettable experience, which isn’t over yet! We all loved visiting Ray’s cousins near Detroit, too.
But then Thursday came. I knew Ray was thinking about how we’d miss Thelma also, even though he didn’t say much. Wednesday, as we walked around Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan with cousins, Thelma did such a great job walking with me everywhere.
When Kathy and her friend, Mary Kay met us at our hotel on Thursday morning, we shared Thelma tidbits, words she knew, voice inflections, etc. We walked to lunch together and Thelma was the perfect dog, lying under the table quietly as we ate our lunch. I showed Kathy how she sits in our car, on the passenger side on the floor under the dash board.
When it was time for them to go, we all prayed together and took pictures. I gave Thelma her favorite toy, and a special bag of treats. Then I opened the passenger side of Kathy’s car and told Thelma, “hup up, inside”. She obeyed and curled up on the floor board ready for a long drive. Off to her new forever home she went, a bond already starting.
It had been a long hard day for Ray and me. We went back to our hotel room and took a nap. For supper, we went to a place nearby that served Afghan food. It was delicious. The next morning we had breakfast with another of Ray’s cousins whom he had not seen for 20 years. Then we drove to the airport to catch our flight home to St. Louis.
Thelma’s empty harness stowed under my seat.