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| Marsha, the marsh rescue |
Someone Needs You
This is a blog about wellness and transformation.
It’s most basic assumption is that the only person you can change is you. However,
when you do transform; becoming a better version of yourself, you light a
pathway for others to follow.
Yesterday, I
had the opportunity to witness this in my own self and family.
I had just
completed my floor exercise (leg and abdominal work, not the gymnastic kind,)
when my cell phone rang. I was thinking that someone had perfect timing. I was
amazed to see the picture of the cardinal on my phone. My sister Chris is not
fond of having her picture taken, but she loves birds, hence the
representation.
Now, Chris
and I live in the same house. Chris is definitely not one of those folks who
calls or sends text messages from another room, so I was truly surprised by the
call.
When I
answered she was speaking rapidly, telling me to go to the kitchen window. She
said that something was under the bird feeder eating the fallen seed. “It looks
like some kind of dog, but it’s all dirty and I think it’s hurt,” she said.
I went to
look but the unknown animal had limped over to the drain spout by our back
door. I could not get a good look from above, but I could tell that it was
trying to get water from the rain spouts.
I called for
my young adults who were still asleep, but when they heard that some kind of
animal was in need, they kicked into high gear. I was amazed at how quickly
everyone moved into action.
My sister,
the cleaner and even more germ aware than I, threw down gloves for my
protection. I ran and grabbed some of Othello’s food; he’s the pure bred mutt
who lives with us and barks only when he doesn’t know or care for someone.
By the time
I made it outside, the animal was nowhere to be found. I whistled and called,
and saw nothing, but my children did not give up the search.
My son went
out on the dock and then came running back into the garage. He grabbed a long
two by four and when I asked why, he told me that the animal was a little dog
and it had gotten stuck in the marsh. He and my daughter ran faster than I had
ever seen and went to the rescue.
My son dropped
the board into the marsh to have a place to stand. The tide had gone out but
the earth was wet and extremely muddy.
I could see
the little dog trying to get away. It was trembling and afraid. I told the kids
to get him out while I ran to call our friend Piera. She is one of the best
hair dressers and I’ve ever known (the others are her mother and sister and my
sister Tiph,)and she’s also one of the most amazing animal rescuers on the planet.
Piera vacations in her mother’s homeland of Panama for the purpose of getting
medical care for animals of poor people.
I left her a
message, and ran back to see if the kids had had any progress. When I did, I
was rewarded with the site of my son and daughter coming towards me with a
battered and shaken Chihuahua-looking dog. She had a rather pronounced cataract
and smelled horribly. My daughter told me that she had shot tags from the
animal hospital nearby.
“What would
Piera do?” I wondered out loud. “We have to take her to the hospital and then
we get to keep her,” my 19 year old said in the voice of a 3 year old.
We rushed to
the car and got her to the hospital, calling my sister to tell her where we had
gone. Once there we remembered that it was a holiday and saw that the hospital was
closed, but I also remembered that they boarded pets, and figured someone must
be there. I knocked and called out until help arrived and soon learned that it
was a good thing we did.
When the
young woman took our little marsh dog from the car, she saw what we hadn’t; her
collar had gotten tangled under her front paw and had sliced into her side. The
arm was only barely attached and I could see the raw flesh and bone.
I began to
cry and couldn’t stop. I didn’t understand my own emotions. I love our Othello,
and have love for animals in a general sense, but I could not understand the
pain that I was feeling. It went deep to my core and I wept loudly.
The young
woman thanked up and told us she would be in touch, but I could not stop
crying.
My daughter
lightened the mood by singing the Sara McClaughlin song from the animal rescue
commercials, the ones we all turn away from. “In the arms of an angel, may you
find some comfort here.
I told them
that I was proud of them and we said a prayer for the doggie I called Marsha
since she was rescued from the marsh.
It was a
rather exciting morning, but I also saw it as transformative. My sister Chris---not
a pet person, was moved to rescue a pet. My children---not morning people; were
moved to move and I was moved to tears.
As we take care of
ourselves, our heart opens to a world in need and we are better equipped with
the right folks, the right thinking, the right course of action to step up and help
those in need.
Be you, be well, be
better.
Bertice Berry, PhD.
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