A Year

364 days ago, Henry Holtzclaw took on a nom de plume: Fluffy's Christmas Angel. I remember so clearly, as if it were yesterday, coming upstairs to get Fluffy to take her for her 10 p.m. outside visit, only to find that she was not in her usual place, not in the chair, not snuggled down in her beach towel. She was gone. And I remember Emily's stark fear, our frantically searching the neighborhood until about 1 in the morning, believing that she was somewhere we could not see, curled up in a little ball, going to sleep, wondering where she was and wondering why we were not there to keep her safe.

Of course, all those things were happening, but not in our neighborhood. Fluffy, in her doggy-Alzheimer's state, had wandered off to the neighbor's house, thinking it was hers, puzzled, I'm sure, when no one let her in. Then she continued to wander until she stumbled down a drainage ditch, underground, safe from the snow that covered the ground, safe from the cold air that penetrated slowly to the bone, safe from predators that might have found a white fluffy dog a delicacy. She wandered for about a mile, until I'm sure she was tired from wandering, lost, confused, and then she curled up in a little ball, and went to sleep.

It was about this time that her Christmas Angel was walking his own dog and saw a little white fluffy ball, curled up on a flat rock, off the water that ran through the drainage ditch, sleeping, and waiting to cross the rainbow. He picked her up, took her home, fed her, gave her water, kept her warm overnight, and then, with special instructions that if no one claimed her, he was to bring her back home, took her to the animal shelter. They thought she might be the white dog that was missing, and on that Wednesday morning, about 36 hours after she eloped, they called us and told us they thought that Fluffy had been found.

Indeed, Fluffy had been found, and then we found her Christmas Angel, and tonight, long after she took her last breath, rightfully in the arms of the people who were obliged to keep her safe for as long as they could, I remember and thank him, who would have loved her well had we not been found.

Angels can be found in many unexpected places, and I am certainly glad we found the one sent to watch over Fluffy.