My "Best Friend"

Abby is her name. She is a little over eight years old, around 100 pounds, and we've been together since she was about 10 weeks old. Abby is a lab/boxer mix and she was free.

Prior to Abby, I had always been more of a Bassett Hound fan. Mark bought me one around our 2nd anniversary. We named her Lu and I loved her so much. She moved with us from Linden to Manteo to Siler City. It was in Siler City, on Christmas Eve, 1999 that she was stolen and we never saw her again.

It was not long after that when we picked Abby out from a litter in Asheboro. About that same time, we also told my family about my husband's addiction and his time in multiple rehabs started. I had lost Lu, my life was in complete chaos, but I had a new puppy to love.

Abby has been with me through some of the darkest days of my life. When I would come home to an empty house, she would be there. While I know she didn't understand, she always listened. She would gently lay her head in my lap and look up at me with those big brown eyes and every so often she would give me a kiss.

Abby has also provided some frustration and anger along the way. She is a Lab and Labs do like to chew. Thank goodness they grow out of it. She should be a very spiritual dog - she ate one of my Bibles! One day I came into my tiny house in Pittsboro to find feathers everywhere. She had totally destroyed my favorite down blanket. When my family moved me back to Buies Creek - we were still finding feathers! She has eaten books, entire loaves of bread, bags of candy, and generally anything that looked or smelled like fun. Now I can laugh about those things, but in the moment they were not quite so funny. Usually she would be sitting in the middle of the evidence trying to look innocent. She also likes wood. Between her, my sister's dog Moose, and my parent's dog Bart, they pretty much destroyed my parent's side porch. My dad has replaced enough rails on that porch to probably build ten new porches. I'm convinced that my parents are saints because they still love Abby.

Currently Abby and I live in a small, one bedroom apartment on a farm in Lillington. She has lots of room to run and we like it there. I love coming home - she's always waiting on me. There's never a time when she's not excited to see me. Her tail wags constantly. We love to take walks and Abby loves to ride in the car with the windows down. She also loves to chase her full-size, chewed up, basketball - a gift from her dear friends, Jeff and April.

Recently, Abby has had a rough few months. At the end of February she had four masses removed from her stomach. They were not malignant. Then Monday night a week ago, she was running and a yelp like I've never heard before came out of her body. She instantly stopped and one of her back legs went limp. I got her to the doctor and it turns out she has a torn ACL. She is scheduled for surgery next Wednesday. Until then, she's on pain meds and I'm trying to keep her calm and comfortable.

I guess I have to realize she's getting older. I know she's just a pet but she is like family to me. I also know the day will come when I will either have to put her to sleep or she will die on her own and when that day comes I will be grateful to God for giving me such a loyal pet and friend. I think God shows his love to us in so many amazing ways. There have been numerous times when life was falling apart and I was crying out to God with tears running down my face and I was so lonely. Abby would walk over and just sit beside me or put her head in my lap and in a way I felt it was God reminding me that I wasn't alone. Thanks Abby!