Rico's Big Adventure

OK, so some of you wondered just what happened. I'll tell you. Two nights ago, we were down at the laundry room near our apartment. Rico is terrified of that room full of loud machines, so we normally just tie his leash to a pole and he waits at the door and runs around and comes back and waits at the door, etc. For our second trip down, we decided to take him down off the leash. When we go for a walk, we always have him off now. He stays close but is too cute when he bolts ahead and runs around in circles to resist. We may risk a ticket, but as long as my wife is present, I know we would never get one -- probly just a warning :). So he just sat at the door like always while we changed the loads -- I checked on him every minute. Then after we both changed a different load (takes a while -- the washers are SMALL!), I checked again and right, no Rico. He sticks pretty close to us, even when not in sight, so I walked the perimeter calling for him. Still no Rico. Walked towards our apartment and in the opposite direction (the laundry room is right in the middle of Village Square Apartments), whistling and calling him. When he hears us, he almost always bolts towards us cause he knows he'll get it if he doesn't. But something was in the air this evening, because he was not returning.

Seemed like nothing, but after ten minutes of looking, we both started wondering. We spread our perimeter, putting out the Rico Alert to whomever we saw. We checked all his favorite places (we walk him the perimeter of the complex frequently, which is a good four square blocks or more in size), and everywhere else on the lot. Dinner was on the stove and getting cold, so we decided to head back home. Before doing so, we drove around the whole place so to check little corners quickly, as well as through our routine walk to the park and surrounding neighborhood which he loves. Still nothing. So we got home and ate, as cool as we could. Melissa comforted me, saying how dogs do this and they always come home -- they can find their way. Her position was annoyed parent, my position was worried parent, because I was not so confident he would return. We decided I would walk to the park to check again, while she waits in the case he returned home. At this point I was very discouraged. I was whistling, but not with as much force as before. When discouragement hits, it seems to take some wind away from your lungs, I guess. During the initial search, I prayed quite a few times for God's help to bring him back to us. I told Melissa I had a strong spiritual sensation, one I don't feel every day, that things were going to be all right. She told me she got the same feeling. That was a comfort. Then at home, I prayed a few times again, and then it hit me that repetitive desperate prayers are not going to help anything. They could possibly act as a kind of placation to one's paranoia, but God heard me the first time, and he never says in the scriptures we need to ask repetitively for what we need -- just asks that we ask. So I decided to stop praying and start doing something.

While searching, things got quite introspective in my mind. I started wondering if this was God, giving me a taste of fatherhood and the kind of responsibility I'll need to have in that time, and was using a dramatic example to drive it home. Melissa and I were both blaming ourselves for not getting the leash in the first place, and that burden was weighing heavy. I felt all the standard parental emotions -- mostly worried sick that he was cold and scared somewhere, or dognapped. We weren't worried about him being hit by a car -- he knows to stay on the sidewalk. We were more worried about an adorable unaccompanied puppy being scooped up by a random passersby. I told God I would take it if that was his plan, but that it wasn't necessary -- that I'm actually very good normally at taking responsibility for the things and people I care about, and I'll be better yet. I got home with no puppy in arms, and Melissa and I were both very sad. So we sat down and watched game show bloopers for a few hours, mostly as a distraction. Rico disappeared at 7:00 pm -- we decided we needed to go out at 10:00 to look some more. We pulled on our shoes and opened the door... and immediately heard footsteps walking up our stairs (outside). Immediately I knew someone had him, and I was right. Two little girls and a mom walked up, one with him in her arms. We were amazed: "Where did you find him?!?" I asked. He leapt into my arms, and started trying to scramble over my shoulder into the house! I held on tight while we chatted with them. I still couldn't believe he came home.

Rico apparently wandered into some area where a random passersby did in fact find him and scoop him up. For anyone who doesn't know him, his love for people is only second to his love for other dogs. I'm guessing he was pretty scared by the time he got lost, and started heckling said passersby for help. Said passersby happened to bring him to the home of a little girl who happened to be present for one of Melissa's Rico Alerts earlier in the evening. She recognized Rico because her friend Jasmine used to walk him for us. But she didn't know where his owners lived. She went over and got Jasmine and they gave him some water and then with her mother they all came to our place. To this moment I'm amazed he fell into the hands of all the right people. There are plenty of persons even in the complex who'd have taken him for themselves. So in finality, it's as I said on Facebook, sometimes God makes no effort to conceal himself.