All is well that ends well.

Evening All,

Yes we're home. Back from the holiday of a life time in NYC. It was the best holiday of my life. We had such fun, so many laughs & not a cross word between us in the two weeks.I even fulfilled what I promised in my last blog & put work firmly in a box in Dublin & didn't let it near my mind for 12 blissful days. I haven't been even close to doing that before whilst on holidays.

On Monday I drove into work at 6am with only a mild sense of trepidation & when I walked into the kitchen & saw the beams on Mr Delicious & the lads faces I knew that our holiday had been a triumph in both New York & Dublin. They excelled themselves.Even the bad boy label printer played ball & didn't act up once.

The holiday might  not have had quite the happy homecoming, had a drama that unfolded in our absence ended differently.We have a dog, A dog that is loved in a way that moves us to tears in the same way our anecdotes about him bore others to tears.Putting him a kennel was unthinkable, I thought we might even have to share him among the offers that would come in from friends to take him.

 SILENCE!

Eventually I asked my sister if she would take him & bless her soul she said yes. As the holiday approached she said was even looking forward to having him. The countdown to the holidays became less how many days til NY, but how many days until we had to leave Lemmy, confused, distraught & feeling abandoned.

I dropped him off the evening prior to our departure, wiped a tear as I bid him farewell. Two days later he went missing in Marley Park. Can't you just imagine the panic. My poor sister, her husband & three kids spent days pounding the streets, sticking up posters, door to door investigations,praying to St Anthony, promising him ANYTHING if our dog could just be found. My five other siblings joined in the prayer vigils...Jesus, not the dog, not that dog....not Shirley's dog, please , please God return him safely, whilst each one smugly  thought "thank God it's Catherine who lost him & not me".

And then all their prayers were answered.

Lemmy, a two year old frisky collie, had discovered his inner sheepdog found his way to ENNISKERRY. I like to think he might have had fun with sheep he met along the mountainous Wicklow hills, that he had the adventure of a life time, running with wild abandon, chasing rabbits..until he arrived on the doorstep of a man two days later. A man who God bless him reunited him with a distraught Catherine via lostandfoundpets.ie

Today, Catherine recovered from her ordeal, said to me..."I know he must be have been micro chipped but there was just  no way I could call you in the States & ask you....."

Well, ahem, actually, well ....he is now.

Shirley (& Lemmy)