It wasn't long enough.....

Where do I begin.... To update you on Mark, his appointment with Dr. Blalock is Wednesday morning and I we hope to get some good news! He did his surgery two years ago, so we are going to start with him. Mark has been fighting this chest congestion with a bad cough for three weeks and had to come home from work early on Wednesday with fever. They wanted to see him and do a chest xray and everything was fine except for bronchitis.

During the night on Thursday, I had a funny feeling in my chest and I didn't think much about it until the next morning when I thought I was having a heart attack! I've had something wrong with my left arm, so it seemed to hurt worse and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. I tried to ignore it and get dressed to take Leigh Ashley to school, but it wasn't going away. I was dizzy and felt like I couldn't walk. At first, I thought that I would go drop off LA and then stop by the doctor's office and tell Natalie what was going on. All of these horrible things started going through my mind like what if I passed out while driving and hurt LA or someone else. So, Miss Independent (who never asks Mark to do anything for me like move stuff, get things out of the attic, etc,) woke up Mark and asked him to take me to the ER. First I took two aspirin and put a xanax under my tongue because I started to panic. When we got there and they did EKG and said I wasn't having a heart attack, but my heart rate was elevated. Well, I'd hate to know what it was if I hadn't taken the xanax because that stuff puts me out! I don't like that stuff, but it is nice to have when traveling. After blood tests and tons of questions, they said that I was having an extreme panic attack and it was normal to have those symptoms. So, they gave me some meds (that I will never take again) and sent me home. I couldn't hold my head up all day and that's not me. No fear of me getting addicted to junk that makes me feel blaaa! There's too much going on in the world to be like that all the time! Little did I know that I'd wake up later to something so heartbreaking and wish I could go back to sleep because it was all a big dream.

Sadly, it wasn't a dream. Zachary's little dog Taco (that he rescued last October from our land in Carthage) was hit by a car in front of our house. I was asleep but woke up to find that Zachary had thrown him in his truck and raced to the after hours vet ER downtown. When I realized what had happened and that he had gone alone, I jumped in my car and drove as fast as I could to be with him. Just as I got off the High Street exit, Zachary text me to tell me that Taco was gone and to go back home. He said he was at a gas station, so I went there instead. I pulled up to find him standing there with little Taco's lifeless body in the seat. Everyone stared as I stood on my tiptoes holding my big boy as tight as I could. I walked over to the truck and loved on Taco as I told him goodbye.

Zachary said he was going to bury him at Cypress Break (our family's place near the river in Leake county), but he wanted to go alone. By the time I got back home, Mr. Courtney and Mark were leaving to go check on him. Mark was in his boxers when the accident happened and Zachary wouldn't wait for him to put on some clothes. Anyone who knows me, knows that when it comes to my kids... nothing will stop me from going to their rescue. I left in my pj's and barefoot, but I didn't care. I told them where he said he was going, so they left to go up there. Zachary told me not to let them come up there, that it was his dog and something that he had to do by himself. When they got there, the gate was locked. I think Zachary was trying to throw us off so we would go up there. He had gone to our land off of Hwy 16 in Carthage...about 15 minutes from Cypress Break. Zachary said that he wanted to bury him where he found him exactly one year ago. Thankfully, he had stopped to borrow a shovel from his friend who lives in Scott county off of Hwy 25 and he rode with him. Dillon Chappell and Zachary were in 1st, 2nd & 3rd grade together and have remained close ever since. He's a true friend to Zachary and would do anything in this world for him. It's so hard to think that at midnight, Zachary was in the middle of the woods burying his best buddy. When he got home that night, he had his little collar with the jingling tags. When I went to wake him up Friday morning, he had the collar wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet. He took it with him and put it in a special place in his truck.

Taco went with him everywhere that he could go and a few places that he couldn't. Last summer, I found out that Zachary was taking him to the Yacht Club to eat when they were out in the boat! He told me that they didn't care, but didn't think that sounded right. Well, one of his friends said that during one of the trips they told him he wasn't allowed... even outside! Apparently, Zachary saw some lady eating outside with her dog once, so he wasn't worried about taking his!

When Zachary first brought him home, Taco was so skinny and pitiful. The slide show below shows how his eyes looked so sad and weak. It didn't take him long to fatten up and to get adjusted to his new life. He finally had a warm bed and a place to stay dry when it rained. He did anything you told him to do and dealt with our Yorkie's jealousy like a champ. I can't tell you how many people wanted him because of his sweet nature, but there was no way he was going anywhere. I got so attached to him and we bonded. I took he and Coco with me to two weekends ago, and they both had to sit in my lap... one on each leg. If I sat on the couch, he and Coco would race to see who got the choice seat. All I can say is that he was the best nature dog I've ever seen. He never fought over treats, but instead would stand back and let Coco have it. When Zachary would take him to deer camp, he loved to roam around and play. If he couldn't find him, all Zachary had to do was crank his truck and he'd come running. Taco had a special place on the couch where he could sit to watch and wait for Zachary to get home. This summer, he would get on the other couch that faces out back and wait for him to get back in the boat. I always could tell when Zachary was close to home, because his ears would perk up. He could hear him coming across the causeway!

Leigh Ashley is having a really hard time. She cried all day yesterday and woke up doing the same today. She screams "I want Taco..." and it breaks my heart. How I wish I could take the pain away from both of my children. Zachary and several of the other players wrote "RIP Taco... We will miss you" on their tape at last night's game. Zachary's was around his wrist and had T-A-C-O spelled out on the tape on his fingers. Before the game, he snuck over to me on the sidelines to show me and I thought I was going to lose it. As soon as the clock ran out, he found me and gave me the tape that he had pulled off and asked me to keep it. A year ago, I never would have thought that homeless, frail little thing would capture our hearts like he did. He brought us incredible joy and we will miss him dearly.