Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Well, here I am...another tragedy under my belt and another brick road on the horizon. I am thinking maybe the yellow one was not the right one. I'm looking to the white one or maybe the blue one this time.
On November 12, 2007....I was sitting in the kitchen while Jubal the Golden Retriever and Ruby the Cairn Terrier were playing in the yard. In a matter of just a few moments, Ruby slipped under the fence and was hit and killed by a car.
She was precious. She was fitting into our life perfectly and was nearly housetrained. I would have to say that she was easing the pain of Rowsby's death in fine fashion and I was completely bonded to that little turd. I cannot describe the pain and torment of that Tuesday morning. I'm trying to put it together for a possible future blog about the deaths of pets. For right now, however, I am at a loss to describe it. I layed in a chair for a week sobbing and wringing my hands. I erected a huge flourescent pink sign in my yard expressing my feelings toward the son of a bitch that murdered my puppy and I sent an open letter to that person to the newspaper. It was published last Sunday. Here it is, in case there might be someone reading my blog who is not a regular subscriber to the Tribune Star.

Heartless driver killed family pet

This is an open letter to the individual who hit and killed my 13-week-old Cairn Terrier near Springhill and Canal on the morning of Monday, Nov. 12.I know you were in a hurry that morning, so you didn’t get a chance to meet the precious creature that you senselessly murdered, so I will tell you a bit about her.Her name was Ruby. She was 13 weeks old and she was a very dear part of our family. She loved stuffed animals, rope bones, Precise puppy food, and any person that walked through our front door. She came to live with our family after our 14-year-old chocolate lab passed away this past fall. Since she came here, she has brought much light and healing to a grieving family after the loss of our senior girl.
I doubt this means much to you. After all, you didn’t even hesitate as her little five-pound body was crushed under your speeding vehicle. She never stood a chance after sneaking under the fence that we mistakenly thought was puppy proof. How many times are we going to wake up at night regretting that we missed a puppy-sized breach in the fence when someone like you was on the way down our street.
She was defenseless against someone like you; someone who couldn’t care less about Cairn Terrier babies and whether or not they are in your way.The next time you are speeding down a street where families live, you need to remember that regardless of any level of isolation or independence that we lay claim to, our actions still affect those along our path.
Maybe you were running late. Maybe you were on the phone. Maybe you were primping in the mirror. Regardless of what was going on in your car that morning, your negligence and selfishness left a gaping hole in our home and in our hearts. One minute, all was right with our world and with Ruby’s. During the next minute, your actions turned that world into a nightmare that we can never wake up from. There have been few things that have impacted our lives more than scooping up a family member whose eyeballs have been popped out after a blow from a heartless passerby.
We miss Ruby terribly. In the few short weeks that we had her with us, we saw her bond with our Golden Retriever, learn to respect the chief tuxedo cat, and almost grasp the concept of going No. 1 and No. 2 outside. She destroyed all the squeakers in all the dog toys, ate a cinnamon broom, and became quite attached to our brown recliner. So much life was lived in 13 weeks, only to be cut short by someone who didn’t seem to care about those who live along the streets that they sped down that morning.
I hope that this is the last time that anything like this happens to our family. If folks would be more inclined to live as if they weren’t the only ones here, maybe this wouldn’t happen to any family.
Slow down on residential streets. Most have 30 mph or lower speed limits for a reason. I think that pets and children who don’t always know what waits for them on busy streets are reason enough for a speed limit. Their lives are worth more than your need to hurry. Your cell phone, makeup, and radio can wait on them with far less impact on your life than their deaths will have on the rest of us.

Personally, I think it's Pulitzer material. I think from now on, anytime my heart is broken, I'm going to publish my pain in the local paper!