In her earliest driving days, my step-daughter, Ashaun, wasn't an exceptional navigator. She navigated by landmarks to places she had already been fairly well. However, she wasn't especially good at map navigation when going places she had never been.

She decided she wanted to make the 1.25 hour trip from her mom's house to ours, by herself, for the first time.  A big step.

She was supposed to arrive in the afternoon around 1 or 2pm.  She didn't. This was before we had gotten the cell phones for the kids. Matter of fact, this may be why we got cell phones for the kids.

I stayed at the house by the front door and the phone.  Bill back-tracked the route almost all the way to Ashaun's house.  No Ashaun.  So, we waited.

Around 5:30pm Ashaun arrived at the front door!  And in one piece!  Tears of relief were shed.  Then Ashaun shared her story.

- click the small pictures to enlarge -

She had gotten lost.  Essentially she had gone south instead of west.  She stopped at a gas station and wrote down the directions on how to get to Weatherford. While there, another customer asked Ashaun if she wanted a puppy.  "Oh Dad - I brought you a dog," Ashaun exclaimed.

Reportedly the lady at the gas station had been at the car wash when the puppy jumped in her car. The lady had stopped to get a small bag of Puppy Chow until she could find a home for it. Looks like we were the home.

Our eyes got a little bigger, we started wondering where the dog was, but Ashaun continued.

"I had a wreck," she said.  We all started walking out to take a look at her little Eclipse car.  Ashaun later affectionately refered to her car as "Ghetto."

She had put the puppy in the back seat with the small bag of Puppy Chow and started using the written directions to get to Weatherford.  She had stopped at a stop sign and a truck passed in front of her.  She hadn't noticed that the truck was pulling a trailer and she started forward through the intersection.  The front of the trailer pulled the front bumper completely and cleanly off the front of the Eclipse. Fortunately, it was still driveable. There was no damage done to the man's trailer.

Ashaun said, "I didn't know what to do, so I put the front bumper in the back of the car, because it has the license plate on it."

By this time we were all in the driveway looking at the poor little Eclipse.  Ashaun received more hugs out of thanks that she was okay. 

There was the little puppy, sitting near the left armrest of the car, in the back seat.  She was about 4 or 5 months old, no collar, and so incredibly thin.  Each and every rib could be seen and even her hip bones were very visible. A little brown hound with floppy ears and big brown eyes. In the floorboard in front of the pup was the tiny bag of dog food. Poor little dog had gotten car sick and thrown-up in the back seat during the trip too.  Then there was the front bumper, with the license plate, laying inside the back of the car.

We cleaned up the car and brought the dog and the dog food inside. We all had a bite to eat.  Bill named the little female pup, Roxie.

It had been an eventful day for all.  Ashaun did good!  She made it. While everyone would have rather she hadn't had a wreck, at least she was okay. And she kept going - and she made it. We were proud of her.  Not a new thing.

A big day for little Roxie too. Lots of new people and quite an adventure. Things were much calmer now and she had a nice full tummy and people to pet her.

We think Roxie had been living on grasshoppers. It seemed to be a way for her to play when she would chase them. Then she would catch and eat them.  She would really work at catching grasshoppers during her first summer with us. To this day she likes to chase them.

After a couple of days of steady meals, Roxie's personality shown through. Lots of playful energy emerged. And lots of sharp puppy teeth. Chew toys were quickly provided, 'cause up until then, I was her chew toy. Roxie is a wonderful dog and we are so fortunate to be her humans. She has a fun sense of humor and a kind soul. She may be a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix.  She doesn't have the ridge of reverse growing hair down her back.  She is also smaller than a full-blood Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Ashaun has grown into a lovely lady.  She will graduate college soon, is happily married, and is just as beautiful inside and out as she has always been. Deep thanks to Ashaun for many things, one of which is Roxie.

< Prev		Next >