Read to me, Mom, Please?

Read to me, Mom, Please?


May 8, 2008


By Julie Kay Smithson, Wiggles' mommy-me forever
 
"Okay, Wiggles! Once upon a time there was this lady whose very nice, loving pet died of old age. She was heartbroken (blue heart) and looking for another angel dog like Too. She searched high & low, all over Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, & Pennsylvania -- & the weeks went by, from July to September.

She was so sad, but one day she decided to attend the Farm Science Review, a neat farm show near London, Ohio, & near her home in the country.

What to her wondering eyes should appear but 14 Australian Blue Heeler puppies in a nice outdoor pen with a tarp for shade & some nice pully-pully toys like socks to play with!

There were two litters, & all looked healthy & happy, but this one particular puppy really got the lady's attention. He was one of the two biggest puppies & he was lying in the shade, apparently oblivious to two of his fellow puppies, who were playing tug o' war with a sock -- but he was actually watching them out of the corner of his eye! When the two tuggers tired of their game & dropped the sock, trundling away in search of other entertainment, this special pup got up & ever-so-casually GOT THE SOCK!

Well, the lady reached in & picked him up, & he fixed her with the age-old mongoose-to-the-cobra look.

What could she do? She put him back, with her stomach in knots, & went on to walk the entire Review grounds. She was thinking about the grumpy-grouchy, very food-aggressive old Siberian husky at her home, scared to death that, if she brought home this puppy, he'd "have it for dinner."

She walked & she walked, kind of in a daze, until 7 hours later, when she came walking back up the same street toward the place with the Blue Heeler puppies. Over half of them were gone, but even from a distance, she could clearly see one pup, reared up on its hind legs, looking intently: IN THE DIRECTION WHERE HE'D LAST SEEN HER!

She quickened her pace, lest someone in the crowd see him & take him before she could get to him! Oh, he was so tired, & more than a little dusty from the thousands of feet that had trod past him that day & the many reaching hands that had [tried to pick him up]. When the lady got into his field of vision, he began wiggling & smiling at her, SO HAPPY that she was back! She reached down and picked him up & he sighed, wrapt himself around her neck like a muff & WENT STRAIGHT TO SLEEP!

What could she do? She asked the sellers if she could take him home, on the condition that she could bring him back if the crotchety husky wouldn't accept him. Long story short, all worked out fine. It's almost ten years later, & the lady & her BLUE HEART HEALER, Wiggles Blue Heeler, are still best of friends and buddies!"

March 25, 2012

Beloved Wiggles Blue Heeler, my precious soul-child, I never tired of reading to you, singing to you, and loving you, and you never tired of loving me and listening to me, and you always looked straight into my eyes and heart, all those years, including the years that your physical eyesight let you down and you saw entirely with your heart. We still commune, you and I; we share our love with Good Boy now, stronger than ever.

I miss you so much, sweetest one, Wiggles!

I miss you so much, sweetest one, Wiggles!


March 6, 2012


By AWM (Always Wiggles' Mommy) propertyrights@earthlink.net


An old country song says something about only missing someone twice: once a day, all day long, and once a night, from dusk 'til dawn. I know how that feels now, dearest Littlefoot! Yes, Good Boy is doing fine and we're okay and having good times, but that does not diminish how much I miss you. Oh, if only there were a way I could just touch you again, hug your dear self, know you'd be there on the other side of the bed each morning ...

You ARE with me still, now and forever, just in a different form, so my missing you is the missing of your physical self, but dear, sweet Wiggles, I wouldn't ask you to be here one second longer than you were. You stayed so much longer than I knew, and when you gave me that last forty-eight hours, you had already gifted me with months that were precious to me, though you were so sick. Whatever was growing inside you (whether it was or was not cancer doesn't matter), was something you held at bay for so long, and you did it so bravely. You were mortified when you leaked urine or vomited, and you used your big green play ball and 'roughed it up' so ferociously in order to keep things from shutting down your ability to eat, urinate and poop ... though I didn't know it at the time.

Oh, how much you are loved, Wiggles, Many Kisses, my Sweetest One!

This photo I took of you the evening of December 1st, 2010, just a little more than three days before you put your fourth foot into Heaven. You loved me so much -- you Love Me So Much, now and forever! -- that you gave it all you had, trying to stay as long as you could.

If I could tell you again, whispering in one of your dear silken ears, how much you are loved, I would do so in a heartbeat, but you know ... you always knew ...  you will always know!

Here's another photo from that same evening, as you sought to do something, anything, so you could stay longer with your mommy-me.

You, sweet Wiggles Blue Heeler, on your/our first Christmas together, in 1998. You always only had eyes for me, and me, for you!

Always, you know ... not for just an hour

not for just a day

not for just a year

but always

Always!

Thy sweet self, thy memory and love for me, comfort me

Thy sweet self, thy memory and love for me, comfort me


August 20, 2011


By Julie Kay Smithson, always Wiggles' mommy propertyrights@earthlink.net


Dearest Wiggles Blue Heeler, you who gave me your all, your whole earthly life, still give, each and every day. I feel you and your love, deep in my heart and soul. It is manifest in the way you still shore me up with your love. You come so near to me that I can still whiff your sweet, never 'doggy' fragrance, almost touch your soft and fine fur, and know that you love me, for all time.

It should not surprise me, that you remain so near and dear, after several months have passed. 'Surprise' is not the right word, but in those grief-stricken first days, weeks and months, I dumbly did not understand that your love would be strong enough for me to draw upon, time after time after so many times. Did I think your love had an expiration date, because your earthly time in physical form did? If so, your mommy-me was foolish. I'm unsure what I thought would happen, but what has happened is a gift you continue giving. Your love breaths life into me when the times come that I seem unable to breathe without you. Your all-knowing eyes, which always looked into mine with quiet calmness and utter devotion -- even more exquisite after your physical ability to 'see' with those eyes had passed (I thought) -- still hold my gaze, still thrill my soul.

You and God weave so many miracles in my life, including that that is Good Boy. I am so 'short' with him sometimes, so unable to give him the unconditional love that my soul tells me he cries out for in his mute countenance, with his shy efforts to win my love. Wiggles, you are there in him so clearly, so strongly, and yet ... I cannot yet bring myself to simply fall to my knees and thank you, much as my actions should honor you in that way. Every moment of your life -- and now, in your eternal life and love -- you led me by your example. Why am I so fearful of allowing your love to completely flow through me and seep out into Good Boy's world? Do I fear that, if that happens, I'll somehow lose the strength that you give me to go on? I do not know. It is a complex thing, living here with your physical self ... I cannot bring myself to say 'gone,' for you are not 'gone.' You understand what words fall short of expressing at this time. You love me so completely that it does not matter if I cannot utter the 'right words.' Here I sit, trying to make my stunted, small self -- which cries out that you are not here, even when my soul knows that you are, and that you always will be with me -- believe that there are only one set of footprints, when I can see only one. Fool that I am, dearest Wiggles. When you needed to be carried, I would always pick you up and carry you. How can I not see and accept that you now carry me?

The Face Of Love

The Face of Love

Wiggles Blue Heeler

who trod the earth from Sunday morning, July 19th, 1998,

until Sunday morning, December 5th, 2010.

June 19, 2011



By Julie Kay Smithson, Always Wiggles' Mommy



Nothing I can say will be able to convey my love for you, child of my soul. We knew each other so well. Your love for me was so ... so much like God's love, and now that you divide your time between my heart-n-soul and Heaven, you know that what I sang to you softly was true, is true, & will always be true:

I'll be loving you, Always! With a love that's true, Always! When the things [we've] planned need a helping hand [God will understand], Always, Always. Days may not be fair always. That's when I'll be there, Always! Not for just an hour, Not for just a day, Not for just a year, but Always!

God loaned you to me here on earth for over a dozen years, but our souls are one forever. My little boo, you are loved by me as I am loved by you, always and forever, more than words can say!

Wiggles: Six months today, dear heart

Wiggles: Six months today, dear heart

 

 

June 5, 2011

 

 

By Wiggles' Mommy, always Wiggles' Mommy, Julie Kay Smithson propertyrights@earthlink.net

 

 

Six months ago, life for Wiggles Blue Heeler and I as we knew it, changed forever. The lurking, growing unseen presence within his midsection had grown -- from something that added enough pressure to make him leak urine almost two years earlier -- to a mass that now was shutting down his ability to urinate or defecate. Wiggles, he of great heart and even greater love, could not go on in his earthly form any longer.

 

What could I say, now that we'd come "down to the wire" and my promise was being called? Wiggles had never let me down. He'd always been there for me, and now I had to be there for him, keeping my promise to not let him suffer.

 

A little after five in the morning on Sunday, December 5th, I awakened to see ever-faithful Wiggles stretched out in clear discomfort, perpendicular to me, his front feet off the bed, trying to buy a little more precious time, a few more breaths without struggle. He and I knew, when we lay down to grab a little sleep just four hours earlier, that this would be our last time to be physically near each other on this earthly plane.

 

We didn't have to talk about it or fight it any more. I called the emergency veterinarian I'd spoken with the night before, letting her know that it was time for us to meet her and her assistant. She asked if nine o'clock would be okay. I replied, "No." She inquired, "Eight o'clock, then?" I spoke words that, even now, seem unreal. "We need you to meet us as soon as you can get there, about seven o'clock."

 

Now things seemed to slow down. Wiggles actually got down off the bed by himself and went out the front door and down the steps on his own, knowing, I'm certain, that this was our last ride in the little blue truck. I can't remember if I helped him up in the truck, but it seems that I did (he'd always jumped in on his own before). Then we were off, taking the smoothest possible route so as not to jar his bulging midsection and make him hurt. Down the state highway to the interstate, going up to legal speed and a little more, we had only fifteen miles to cover to get to the exit where ...

 

As we got within a half-mile of the exit for Wilson Road, I reached over to pat his head gently and put a hand up across him so he wouldn't be jarred as we took the ramp. For the first time in his life, Wiggles was trembling under my hand, his head transmitting the pain to me.

 

I gave him all I had in assurance and love. "Hold on, sweetheart. We're almost there. I won't let you hurt anymore." When we got to the clinic, the lady vet and her young assistant were arriving at the same time. One of them held my door open, and I carried Wiggles, his bed and thick towel, as the other held the door of the clinic for us. Paperwork was signed, a 'sleepy shot' was given (the only time I ever heard Wiggles yelp in pain, because he was tense with the pain that he still endured without a whimper -- then the sleepy shot helped him relax, though he still remained upright, though lying, his dear face consigned to the moment at hand. He kissed me one last time for now, and kissed the vet and her assistant to reassure them that all was okay.

 

At seven-fourteen on this crystal-clear Sunday morning in December, Wiggles, child of my soul and my best friend for this lifetime and eternity, was whisked back into God's arms. Someday, we'll be rejoined in joy, but at that moment, all that mattered was that this dearest, gentlest of souls was no longer hurting, and was free at last from his earthly bonds of age.

 

I love you, Wiggles, forever. You know me, like God does, better than I'll ever know myself. Thank you for all your love, love that surpasses everything, and swaddles me always. Get ready, dear one! My soul will flee earth one day and rejoin you forever!