Emil, Missy and "Will-Power"

After teaching Missy how to give her two front paws, my friend Emil thought that he would teach Missy some "will power". 

In the beginning of August we went down to visit with Emil in the afternoon and Missy got her first lesson. Um, so Missy is not really a "will-power" kind of dog. She tried really hard to stay when Emil put the treat on the ground, but she couldn't stand it. We agreed that this may take some work and we both laughed. 

Two days later, Emil was in ICU and 17 days later he finally came home.

I brought a picture of Missy for Emil to keep in his room, and I gave him daily updates on her. He wanted to make sure that she wasn't forgetting her training. I told him that she remembers her paws, but the will-power....well, he's got work to do there when he gets home.

I always updated Emil on Missy, and shared pictures of her; Missy getting a bath, Missy smiling with her bow-tie on, Missy with her pile of toys. All the nurses and staff who came into the room, knew about Missy. They knew that Emil was training my 7 year old dog some tricks and they were all very impressed. Emil smiled, very pleased and deservedly very proud with himself.

One day Emil said that he talked to one of the nurses about Missy.  He told me that if we claimed that Missy was a Therapy Dog, then I could bring her to visit him. It would have been awesome for Emil to see Missy.  I know how much he is missing Missy, but I thought that given the fact that Missy gets a bit 'over-stimulated', maybe bringing her into the hospital wasn't a good idea. Honestly, we wouldn't even get past the lobby, Missy would be wanting belly rubs from every single person she saw. It would have to wait.

Emil came home from the hospital yesterday, Tuesday, afternoon. Richard told me that he was sleeping, but glad to be home. Without talking to Emil, somehow I just knew that he would be outside waiting for us this morning. And he was. As weak as Emil was, he set his alarm for 5:30, got fully dressed, got Missy's treats and sat outside waiting for us.

At 6am, our usual time, I started walking Missy.  As soon as we got down to his street, I couldn't contain her. Missy started pulling me and squealing. I had to let her go, I do believe she would have pulled me right across the lawn if I didn't.  She saw Emil and ran right up to him sitting on the porch. Seeing the two of them together after almost three weeks was truly one of the best things I've ever seen in a long time.

It was just one of those moments. One of those moments when you sit back, observing how good our God is and how truly blessed you are to be right where you are here and now.

After catching up with Emil, we agreed that Missy can start her will-power training... tomorrow.

    

                                                                                       Originally posted to Facebook August 2019