Halie

I brought home a few dogs in my day and even a cat or two, which my parents will confirm since all of these animals ended up belonging to them.  I recently got to experience what that feels like now that their dog Amy lives with me now but that is a story for a different day.  

 I would love to quote lots of years to you but lets face it, at this point in life I can’t remember what year anything happened besides the births of my children, yes my marriage doesn’t even make that list because well I can narrow it down to two – was it 10-12-13 or 10-13-12….Clay has to remind me every year or Timehop and no one is offended because well our story is so much older than that date. Clay and I began dating before he started med school, he lived in Stillwater and I in OKC, he was accepted into med school and off to Tulsa he went, for most of you med school just sounds like a lot of work, but as a first hand witness to it, I would say the emotional load of this process is equally as heavy as the mental load.  Year 2 of med school I rented a studio apartment.  This is not the first time I had adventured to a new town, I transferred my job at the mall, and figure I can do that while I look for a new salon.  The first time my mom came she was driving my brothers truck…or maybe they helped move me I can’t recall exactly but someone stole his tailgate….and later that year my dad and brother purchased my first gun upon seeing the settlement in person….so you can see they felt really safe in my new found home choice. I had this glorious idea that Clay and I would get to see each other so often, which is laughable now, I worked a lot and he never stopped working, sleeping for him was minimal and the emotion strain on point.   So one of my sister friends found this adorable Miniature Schnauzer, and well I brought her home.  I took her literally everywhere with me, we went on walks and puppy dates with my friends and their dogs, and she slept next to me every night.    Halie was there for every up and every down.

We moved to Okc where she and Buckles got to experience all the joys of being dressed up and having a friend to play with, and then we adventured back to Bokchito to live, she thought country life was awesome.  When I brought her home a “sister” she was less than thrilled and then when Clay and I married she got another one, she then rebelled at being a house dog, and stayed in the yard with her sisters.  She won’t fetch but she barks obnoxiously for you to throw the ball for Cami and Annabelle so she can chase them, and she is horribly stubborn- it is a family trait.  When I was pregnant we moved into the Durant house, and our landlord lovingly referred to her as the yipper.  They would prove to be her savior in her first near death experience.  When I was 28 weeks pregnant with the twins, I went in to preterm labor and because of ice in route they put me on a Christmas light tour by helicopter to Mercy hospital in OKC, the ice came as they predicted and when our dear landlords went to get our puppies to take them to their house our big girls as usual barreled to the frozen pond followed by there mighty yipper and she broke through the ice.  She was rescued – thank the heavens for those good men and bundled to stay warm until she could be taken home with my parents, who just nearly balked on giving her back post twins haha.  Her favorite spot has always been Clay’s lap, when we sit on the porch at night she hops right to her spot and sighs the biggest sigh.  She never loved the kids until they got old enough to share their snacks but A has always loved her fiercely, in fact I recently found a video of A bawling because Halie would not sit in her lap- imagine that I wouldn’t want to sit in the lap of a wailing toddler either.  A is always on the look out for her, and that is probably part of the reason she is here today.

Friday we were business as usual, enjoying the weather, no imminent plans, I was putting on a stew and the kids were outside.  A comes running in the door to tell me Halie is covered in dried mud and she wont get up, I stop my stew and head out the door with no thoughts of this being severe, when I step off the porch I notice the cowdog is standing guard at her side, when I get to her I realize she is hurt and I send A back for Clay, who is all calm- me not so much on the inside.  We take her to the apartment to clean her up and as I hold her I hear rattling and gurgling as she breathes- Clay says we have to go to the vet.  The vet here is closed- nearest one is 35 miles- we drop the kids at our back up parental house and speed to Durant.  Her breathing gets short, her tongue is out and I am sobbing and wailing like a lunatic because I just knew she was going to die in my arms.   I am praying for God to take her quickly if she is going to leave me and I hold her tight. As we expect they tell us the worst when we arrive, she has punctures in her chest and requires immediate surgery and they give her a less than 50% survival rate,  I kiss her and tell her to be so brave and they take her back.  I cry until it appears I have been stung in the eyes by killer bees.  3 + hours later, 3 lung tears repaired and our fur baby made it through!  I visited her on Saturday and she looks so sad but today she came home, A and I soaked her feet and cleaned her the best we could and tucked her into her favorite blanket, with new pink food bowls and a fresh collar where she was serenaded by A with what might be the most skewed version of jingle bells/twinkle little star and it was magical.  Halie being our first princess is tucked in with her diffuser and sleep music and the thing we are most thankful for this Thanksgiving is God guiding the hands of Doc Mills because Halie isn’t done here on earth.