Ackroyd House: Chico

Showing posts with label Chico. Show all posts

Sunday, 16 August 2020

Oh Frank

This is hard for me to write. My heart is broken.

On Friday, I had driven out to Chestermere, Langdon and Strathmore to deliver some certificates to seminary teachers. On the way back, my car was overheating. I pulled over on the highway and called Allen. He came to help me and while that was happening, Frank got out of the car. He ran on the highway. Cars were swerving and trying to miss him, but he got hit. It was the most awful thing to see and I cannot get it out of my mind. The people who hit him stopped, stunned. They apologized. We knew it wasn't their fault and told them so. Allen ran over and picked Frank up. We rushed to a vet's office. Allen held him and begged him to hang on, but he didn't make it and died in Allen's arms.

I have so much guilt. I should have taken Allen's car out there.

I should have known he would bring Frank with him and helped manage him.

I should have been able to catch him.

I should have....

We called Jill and asked her to come over. We went and got Peirce at work and told him. Jill and her boyfriend, Adrian, took Peirce home and I took Frank to the vet's office.

When we all got home we sat in Peirce's room and cried. Chico came in and was uncharacteristically affectionate. I think he knew and wanted to comfort us in our sadness. Adrian cooked some food and we looked at pictures and cried. There was a lot of crying. Jill suggested we have a family prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for the time we had with Frank and for the comfort in knowing we know where Frank is and that Jesus has felt all this pain before as well.

I don't know if I will ever get over seeing everything happen. It will always hurt my heart. My friend Lauri Bell sent me a message and I said to her that I wondered how long this would hurt so much. She said:

I like this quote by Rose Kennedy:

"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds. ' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone."

I believe that is true.

My friend, Lori T, said that the pain is part of the result of loving so much. We sure did love Frank. I can hear Allen sobbing now and then and Peirce stays in his room and it all just breaks my heart.

We will always remember Frank so fondly. He was the happiest dog. He brought happiness to us and this all shouldn't have happened. Somehow, we will go on but we will never forget.

This is what Peirce wrote:

 rescued me the day I brought you home wrapped up in your blanket. I never knew how empty my life was until you arrived. You were my most precious gift, so loving, so kind, so gentle, so full of joy. My best friend, my family, my heart, my soul.

He would nip my ankles when he was a puppy as I walked about, listened to me while I vented, held secrets I would not share with another living soul, and he loved me despite my faults and imperfections, without condition or expectation of anything in return — except for my love. He held my heart. I’ve never met a dog that was so happy and outgoing, and people noticed that about him too. 

It's hard to come home knowing a wiggly dog won't greet you at the door, but I also have a sense that there's a bit of a wagging tail within myself, in his memory at the same time. His selfless, glowing spirit is captured in the hands of every human who pet him, and I am beyond lucky to be a part of his fan base. He taught me the essence of freedom from the very moment he came into my life. He taught me how to feel sovereign while even controlled at the end of a leash, how to let my ears flap in the wind, and how to live like every car trip to the vet was a drive up to the mountains. With those guidances in mind, how could I not think to myself "What a wonderful world?", and what a wonderful dog. 

I would do anything to take you longboarding or hiking one more time. No one expected it so suddenly and so soon. For almost two years, you made my life so much better. Your massive paws on your tiny body were so cute. Then you grew into your paws and became the biggest baby ever.

I love you and I will never stop wishing we had more time. You were everything and more.

I love you, frank

Sunday, 14 June 2020

Hail Storm Surprise

We had a big bad scary storm last night. In one hour, 50 cm of rain fell! Allen was driving home and he saw manhole covers pop off and fly in the air! Deerfoot was closed down. Houses were really damaged in some parts of the city! You can see pictures here.

Some #Twitter pics from the #abstorm Calgary storm last night. pic.twitter.com/cv9MLxGtKg
— 🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞 (@paulmacko) June 14, 2020

Chico had a really good solution.

Sunday, 31 March 2019

Spring Break in Kelowna

We had a really fun week last week. We went to Kelowna - all three of us! Allen wanted to stay in a hotel instead of at Neil's so we decided to stay at the motel my parents bought when I was 12. It was so fun to be there! It isn't a super fancy place, but still nice. Allen could have plenty of resting time. There were good places to walk Frankie and Chico and there is lots to do there. I really loved just being around and seeing the maid carts and people cleaning the pool and everything else that is such a strong memory for me. I even snuck into the laundry room to snap a picture. LOL I bet not too many guests do that! There's a lot to do there: a sand volleyball court, indoor and outdoor pool, bar-b-ques you can use, shuffle board, ping pong tables, exercise room and lots and lots of grass space. There's lots to do. It would be a great place for a family reunion.

On the way home we ended up staying a night in Revelstoke. 44 km out of Revelstoke there was a truck that was on it's side perfectly covering both lanes. Allen got out and took Frankie for a little walk and saw that it was a big deal to fix so he figured we should turn around and go have dinner in Revelstoke. We asked the guy in the pizza restaurant (who was a hilarious French guy) what he thought about the situation and he said, "Friends, you are what we say, 'Revelstuck'!" LOL There's a twitter account you can get info about BC roads on and they had updates. The time it was estimated to be fixed up got pushed back and pushed back. We ended up deciding to get a hotel and get a good night's sleep, which was great. In the end, it turned out the road opened up at 11:00 pm, so we were glad we didn't try to wait it out. It's a good 4-5 hours from Revelstoke to Calgary, so that would have been a really late night.

Funny thing was when we were in Kelowna, I thought a few times that I should do a load of laundry in the laundry facilities they have for guests. I didn't though. When we were stuck in Revelstoke I wondered if that was a prompting because I sure would have been more comfortable with some clean laundry! Things that make you go hmmm....