If ever there were a gift from God, mine was MacGyver – a Shepherd-faced beauty with a sleek white body and a large black mark across her back. I knew the moment I saw her among all the 10-week-old furballs, she was the one for me. She felt the same way for she came straight to me as if she had been waiting for me to come.
I was very ill at the time, undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for cancer. My daughter was just months away from leaving for college, so she thought a dog would be a good companion for my husband and me. Little did she know just how valuable that dog would prove to be.
There was the day I was home alone and passed out in the shower; I awoke to find my head and upper body out of the water and my precious little girl, only six-months-old, hitting me on the back with her rather large paw. I started to heal and one day the doctor said I was cancer-free. After that, MacGyver never let me give in either to the tiredness of diabetes and hypertension or to the pain of athritis. She would get me out of bed and would often only go for a walk if I took her.
I started to live again. I bought a car and began functioning on my on again. Imagine, when I learned that at almost 11-years-old, my much-loved companion and best friend had developed a rapidly moving cancer. I prayed for the right answer and knew I could not put her through the pain and suffering that would let me keep her with me for a little longer.
God had sent her to me at my hour of greatest need and I knew he was ready for her to come home. I was functioning again. Her job was done.
Till we meet again,
Mommy
| MacGyver |
| Viola Osgood-Noonan |