Last night was probably the craziest in my life. I lost a dear one, found it back, and generally had a whole lump of troubles fall on me at the same time… by bed-time it was all back to normal though.

First things first… we took Anna dad’s car for the weekend (had to make a long trip on Friday, and this is a company car => free gas) and left ours at her parents’ house. Yesterday, at about 5 PM I went to help my friend move his GF from the dorms to an appartment near the Uni. In the middle of the moving, I heard a hissing sound from the front right wheel of the car. I examined it closely and found a nail inside !! That tyre didn’t have long to live… We wanted to change it, but the reserve tyre was deflated. So, I hurried back home…

When I got home, Anna told me our dog dissapeared. Shoko (the dog) went to the lawn in front of the house as usual, but when Anna came out to take her home, she was nowhere to be found. At first, we didn’t worry too much. She’s young (8 months) and never left home like this, but we were certain that we’ll find her soon. We were wrong.

In parallel, Anna called her dad to ask what to do about the car (by that time, the damaged tyre was completely flat). He said he wants to come by and see if we can do something before we call the company, but he’ll come in another couple of hours.

In the meantime, we went all over the neighbourhood looking for Shoko. As the time went on, our faith got weaker. Some old lady told us she saw a dog matching our description going some way, but we searched there thoroughly and didn’t find anything. And we even didn’t have a car to help us looking for her ! ARGH, it never rains, it pours, they say.

Hours went by, and we didn’t find her. Anna cried, I wanted to cry really badly - we love this dog, and it’s a tragic way to lose her. A couple of friends (those whom I helped to move) aided in our search, they went around a close neighbourhood and the Uni looking for Shoko. It was already 9 PM, while she disappeared at ~ 5:30. She’s young and playful, but by that time she would surely understand she is lost, and we ruminated that if she still didn’t come back, something bad probably happened.

Then, we decided to print some “looking for our dog” announcements and attach them to message boards, trees and fences around the block. We really didn’t believe it will work, there should’ve been many coincidences for such a thing to help.

In the meantime, Anna’s dad came (we were pretty desperate about the dog, after looking for her for 4 hours all around), and we find out that (1) the left front tyre was flat too, and (2) the reserve tyre was cut !!! Yikes… We even couldn’t take the reserve tyre from his other car, but Mitsubishi Lancer’s tyres are a tad smaller than Mazta Lantis’, and wouldn’t fit. So, with no other options, we called the company.

Hope for Shoko was slowly fading away, it was sad to see Anna and me jump out of the house with every small noise… I went around the block a few more times.

Damn… so much thoughts went through my head. I thought about life, how easy it is to lose someone dear, how exceedingly easy it is. You just don’t expect these things, and they come instantly… it feels that no one around cares, just you with your problems, the life goes on, and you must go on, disregarding everything. What would have happen if we switched cars before lunch ? No flat tyre, and most probably the dog would still be home. But is it valuable to even think these thoughts ? They don’t help… I also thought - you only understand how you loved and needed someone when he/she is gone. Pretty obvious, just I /felt/ it for the first time. Also, how insignificant all these car troubles seemed to me compared to the dog ! Flat tyre, big f*** deal ! The car will live, it’s just a matter of time for the mechanics to come and fix it. But the dog - a living creature - what can we do ? What ?

It’s hard to describe the tough moments that we went through sitting there and thinking… But eventually at about 11:30 PM, just when the mechanic called saying he’s coming and asking for the address, Anna’s cellular called. That was a weird hour, and something turned in my stomach. She picked up, and I heard street noise from it… “yes”, “YES!”… and Anna’s eyes almost got out of the orbits. I understood immediately. It was some lady, they found a dog matching Shoko’s description and saw our note on some tree (coincidences, I said !!!!). I asked where and immediately ran there. It was Shoko indeed.

Here’s what they told me: Some guy saw her on the street, almost hit her (he said that he thinks the car before him hit her, but she acts as usual, shows no sign of injury, Anna will take her to the vet today anyway), and stopped by to take her to the sidewalk. A lady was there and helped him (she called eventually). A couple went by, and the wife remembered she saw our note, came back, took it and they matched Shoko to the description. Then, they called ! Good, good people… but coincidences - it’s what rules our life.

The mechanic eventually came, put a temporary fix on the tyres, and we were about to drive the car back to Anna’s parents. Tomorrow (today) they would fix it.

Happy end, I guess. How vurnerable our life is, though ? We’re very easily shattered through our loved ones. A set of coincidences, and we lose the dog. A set of coincidences and we find her. Weird. Scary….

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This entry was posted on Sunday, September 14th, 2003 at 10:52 am and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.