5 Days without Branson!!!

On March 18, 2009, I suddenly noticed that when it was time to feed the dogs that one of our German Shepherds (we have 3) didn’t come running when he heard me calling his name. I really did put much thought into this because I figured he was probably roaming the neighborhood chasing rabbits. I became more concerned the next morning when he didn’t greet me on my way to the car. His sister met me and acted a somewhat different. I did think it was unusual that he wasn’t home, but I went on with my daily routine giving it very little thought. Later in the evening, I pulled into my driveway and he didn’t come running to the car. At that point, my 10 year old said, "Mom, where is Branson? He always meets us at the car." I remained calm and told him he was probably out roaming. By this point, I knew something was wrong. My son proceeded to start calling his name and searching, but he never came home.

After dinner, my 2 year old went to the door and started calling his name (he often stands at the door and tries to feed the dogs leftovers). When Branson didn’t come, Carder turned to me and said, "Mommy, where is Branson? He not come. Go get him." The 10 year old immediately responded with, "He’s probably dead. We will never see him again." Everyone in the family immediately became involved. Kevin, myself, my sister, my brother-in-law, and the children all started looking for Branson. We looked everywhere. We called everyone we knew, including the mailman, bus driver, radio station, road department, etc. Still, no Branson. Life at house just wasn’t the same.

After 5 days of being gone, my telephone rang. The voice on the other end asked me if I had a dog named Branson that was missing. My first response was "Is he alive". After she said "yes", I stood there on the phone crying. I couldn’t even write name and address of the person who had this beloved animal. My kids would be so thrilled, and there would be no more crying themselves to sleep after saying a prayer for Branson.

He is safe at home now, and everything is back to normal. He was greeted with a very very warm Welcome!!!! However, I must say that I have really learned that the old saying is very true: "You often don’t realize how important something is until it’s gone". Take the time today to realize what’s important in your life-health, freedom, spouses, children, animals, etc.  Have you every had a love cat, dog, or any other animal become missing and then be able to find it?  Please share any good or bad stories you may have to keep us all informed.