Angel Apollo is our Pup of the Week

I have been writing tributes for newly winged angels since 2009.  With my parents helps I have been editing them and some time next year will present them all in book form.  The first story will tell the tale of  Apollo who passed to the Bridge in December of that year.  In the seven years since he last trod on the mortal side of the realm no pup has made his presence felt on the mortal side more than Apollo.  

His mother, Miss Kimberli, has devoted her life to saving dogs.  She rescues them from shelters or other hopeless situations.  Through patience and love she prepares these abused, scared dogs for new homes and then finds the perfect one for each of them.  Through the entire process she is guided by the brilliant, noble Angel Apollo.

Apollo has been tasked with bringing family member home too.  He oversaw his sister Shakira passing over, and even a willow tree.  But this morning he had his most difficult journey.  Today he had to help his Dad cross the River of Life to the immortal side leaving Apollo’s superstar dog saving Mom behind.

His Dad took very ill late last year.  He was in the ICU on a ventilator.  Like me in my oxygen tent before I passed over the river Apollo’s Dad Dennis could not breathe on his own.  Apollo and Shakira rallied lots of angels to fly prayers up the mountain for Dad Dennis but prayers are too often answered no.

While I am often present when a dog passes over the River of Life I am seldom there for humans so I must relate the story that Apollo told me.  Apollo was given the ability to go to his Dad’s hospital room in his dog form after getting special permission from the Big Guy (who Apollo refers to as The Head Dude.  When you are an angel like Apollo you can get away with that.)

Apollo bounded into the room shortly after his Mom had removed his Dad’s ventilator.  One of Apollo’s wings hit the IV knocking it down.  Apollo scurried under the bed as the nurse questioned what could have made the IV fall over.  Mom Kimberli smiled knowing it was Apollo.  After the nurse left she told Apollo it would take a while so he cuddled up on a cabinet.  And there they silently waited for Dad Dennis’ time to cross the River of Life to come.

At 3;15 AM on Sunday Dad Dennis’ allotted number of heartbeats expired and his spirit arose from his mortal form.  Apollo’s Mom turned to him, knowing her husband was gone, and told her faithful dog to take Dad Dennis home and that she would follow when her heartbeats expired.  

Dad Dennis was ready for the long climb up the stairs and the paperwork needed to be done to join the Immortal side but Apollo had cleared everything with the Big Guy and Dad Dennis was able to hop on Apollo’s back and ride straight to the Bridge.  He moved into a big house the Big Guy had built for him where thousands of dogs who never knew love could live with a man who showed so much love for dogs who never had homes.  He is sharing the house with Apollo’s vet, Dr. Joel.

Soon after he arrived Dr. Joel and Dad Dan were under the spreading weeping willow tree with thousands of dogs around them throwing balls and frisbees as the loving dogs scampered after every toss  Dad Dan and wife Kimberli spent their lives taking care of dogs and now Dad Dan will spend the afterlife taking care of dogs until his beloved wife joins him and they can do it together again.

But Angel Apollo was not amongst them.  He had gone back to the mortal side to sit with his Mom, one of the best people, and greatest friends to dogs in the world, who now has more souls connected to her heart living at The Bridge than anyone I know.

It isn’t fair.  Not much on the mortal side of life is fair.  But those living with her will give her love and support and she will always have Angel Apollo, the most powerful angel at the Bridge.

Angel Apollo is our October 18, 2015 Pup of the Week

“Aroooooooooo!”  I heard this just outside my window.  I was snuggled in my bed and hoped the Aroooooooooo was not meant for me.  I rolled over.

“Aroooooooooo Foley!”  I opened my eyes and sighed.  I got out of bed then put on my slippers and robe.  I stoked the fire.  It had started getting cold here at the Bridge.  “Aroooooooooo Foley!”  

“I am coming!” I said, trying not to sound grumpy even though I knew I was a bad-waker-upper.  I opened the door and Angel Apollo nervously entered my house.

“Arooooooooo Foley I need to go visit my Mom and let her know everything will be OK but I can’t find a butterfly, a hummingbird, nothing that will let me borrow it’s body.  Aroooooooooo what am I going to do?” Apollo asked pacing across my floor.

I curled up in my favorite rocking chair.  “Apollo, you need to calm down,” I told him.  “Tell me what is wrong.  And stop starting every sentence with Aroooooooooo.”  (He did this when he was nervous.)

“Aroooooooooo,” he said.  (He couldn’t help himself.)  “It’s my Mom.  She has too much going on.  You know she is one of the greatest rescue Moms of all time.  I try so hard to help her find homes for all these pups.  And my Dad is still at the rehabilitation facility to get him healthy again.  He has hardly been home since spring.  Mom sliced her hand open earlier this summer and last night she had a really bad asthma attack.  it is because of all this stress.  My wonderful pack:  Bishop, Napa, Munchie and the others stayed with her all night to make sure she was comforted but she needs to see me.”  He collapsed in a nervous heap in front of my fireplace.  

Poor Apollo.  He has been here longer than any friend I have had but he has never rested in peace.  He is always moving:  To get his Mom dogs who need rescuing; to find those rescued dogs forever homes; to watch over his Mom his Dad, and his pack.   And he has a very strong connection to his Mom.  He knows when he is needed.  But the weather has turned cold and it was hard to find a flying creature who would let their body be used for Apollo’s trip.

(For those readers not familiar with Rainbow Bridge and the Immortal World it sits just on the other side of the River of Life.  You can cross Rainbow Bridge to the Immortal side but you can’t cross back to the Mortal side. Flying creatures can wing their way across the river and they often let us use their bodies to visit our families.  Birds and butterflies are our favorite choices but when the weather gets cold they won’t let us use their bodies.  They complain we return them too cold.)

I told Apollo that I, being a former lawyer and now a judge, was sure I could talk some flying creatures into letting Apollo borrow their body.  We climbed high up into the hills where the birds were chirping in the warm sunshine.  Apollo begged, and I used my most persuasive arguments, but none of the bird would acquiesce and the butterflies doubted they would survive.

Then a wasp landed on Apollo’s nose and said he would do it.  I told the wasp to buzz off.  Wasps are dirty annoying bugs and for Apollo to fly all the wall from Rainbow Bridge to his Mom’s house on wasp’s wings would be very taxing.  It was possible he would not make it back at all.  But Apollo immediately said yes and I could not persuade him otherwise.  He switched bodies with the wasp who immediately used his Apollo body to devour a steak.  Meanwhile Apollo fluttered those little wings hard and flew to his Mom’s house.

No dog has ever had as big a heart and as strong a will as Angel Apollo.  He flew,and flew, and flew, until he reached his Mom’s window where he could clearly be seen against the blue sky.  He narrowly avoided serious injury when his brother Bishop wanted to squash him but his Mom stopped him.  She could tell by the wasp’s glow, it’s vibe of kindness, the connection that they have always had, that this was Angel Apollo coming to check on her and she knew if Apollo could travel so far then everything would soon be OK.

I nervously waited on the hill for his return.  It began to get dark.  The Bridge can be hard to find in the dark.  Then I saw a small, dark figure moving towards me in the sunset.  It was Angel Apollo in wasp’s clothing.  He fluttered on his his own side, now occupied by the well fed wasp, and flung the wasp from his body, then slept the next two days while the wasp spent the night dashing in and out of the fire I had made trying to warm itself.

When he awoke Apollo told me the trip had been worth it.  He would have flown twice around the world to let his Mom know she would be all right.  They have a connection that not time, distance, or the inability to touch will ever break.  And there is nothing on either side of the river that will keep him from letting his Mom know she will be alright.

We all have that bond with our Mom but it is the special ones like Apollo who never let it fade.

Shakira is our November 30, 2014 Pup of the Week

I have had so many prayers to deal with lately.  Not that I am complaining.  It is a honor to be the one to convey my friends’ prayers to the Big Guy.  But I am getting confused. .  I have prayers and notes scattered everywhere.

I was trying to get them sorted when I noticed Shakira looking over me.  “Hi Shakira,” I said.  “You know I can never keep my prayers straight.”  Then I stopped and looked up.  “Shakira!”  I yelled.  I began to look through my prayers and could not find her name.  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Rule number two Foley,” a deep voice said.  I turned and saw one of my oldest friends, and a senior member of the Bridge Council, Shakira’s brother Angel Apollo, standing on a hill over us.  He ran down towards his sister.  Instead of running and playing together they just put their heads and paws next to one another and took comfort in the texture of their fur and familiar, long lost smell.

Rule number two was never ask a pup what they were doing at The Bridge because the answer was always the same.  I was never good at following the rules.  When Apollo and Shakira were done with their reunion I inquired again why I did not have more prayers and Shakira told me that Angel Apollo was handling her’s personally but, while she was sick, no one thought she was ready to cross the River of Life.

Five months ago Shakira was diagnosed with an ugly cancer.  Her doctor was confident that a drug known as Palladia would shrink the cancer cells and could even cure the cancer.  Sharkia and Apollo’s Mom  was hoping that the drug would give Shakira more time on the mortal side of life.

Everything was going great.  Shakira went from being a lethargic girl to the energenic one she had been her whole life.  She had some hair loss but it was an easy trade to be able to run like the wind again.  

But all drugs have side effects which no one pays attention to because they hardly ever happen.  Hardly…...With Shakira they happened.  The drugs caused her kidneys to shut down.  Once that happened Shakira’s Mom had no choice but to make the most difficult decision.  Shakira told us how grateful she was that her Mom made that decison and put her out of pain.

But I was still baffled about why the medicine did not work.  “Why would the Big Guy create a medicine to cure you and not have it work?” I asked.

Apollo grumbled about rule #3:  Never question the motives of The Big Guy.

“Well I think it sucks,” I said just to ruffle Apollo’s fur and make him remind me of rule #7.  Instead my old friend just sadly nodded.

Some dogs like to pick out a replacement either just before they cross the River of Life, or shortly afterwards but Shakira and Apollo don’t do anything small.  They didn’t pick out a pup, they picked out a whole pack.

Their Mom is one of the most wonderful dog rescuers we know.  Just before Shakira got called to the Bridge an unwed homeless Mother was taken in as a foster pup by Shakira’s Mom.  The Mom had her litter and Shakira’s mom sorrow has been softened by having a Lollipop and little pups running around her house dependent on her.  It was the perfect diversion to Shakira’s loss.

We went to Tommy’s house to watch over Shakira’s Mom and the pups to make sure they were safe.  Apollo has been a wonderful angel to her but with Shakira watching over her other shoulder she will be doubly blessed.  Then Apollo told Shakira there was something she had to see.

We went up and down several hills and then Shakira saw it and ran towards it.  Her old weeping willow that was in her yard until it got sick and had to be taken down this year stood proudly swinging in the breeze.  Shakira ran and curled underneath it.  Apollo followed her and the lay down wrapped around Shakira and they fell asleep with one another under the willow tree just as they had years before.

Home again.

(When I finished writing this blog I got a page for another swearing in.  I went to my post and I saw Benjamin.  I was stunned.  I crouched down, grabbed his legs, and began to sob.

“That breaks rule number 9,” a familiar voice said.  I turned to tell Apollo I didn’t care about the rules.  I looked up and realized it was Benjamin who was speaking.

“No more rule breaking,” he said  “There’s a new Sheriff in town.”  

I looked up and saw the stars from the beautiful sky twinkle off his badge.

TO BE CONTINUED…..)