When my youngest daughter, Catherine, was a little girl she received a Le Mutt stuffed dog. She had many stuffed animals and dolls but somehow it was Le Mutt who stole her heart and literally went everywhere with her. She had clothes for Le Mutt and even encouraged her best friend, Traci, to allow her Fifi stuffed animal to marry Le Mutt. It was a marriage made in heaven. The two girls and two little pups were inseparable. 

Catherine brought Le Mutt on vacations, ceremoniously dressing him for camping and hiking. Of course she was not going to leave him behind in our tent when we went trudging up mountain trails. He was family after all and would not have missed the outing for anything. Le Mutt ate dinner with us and watched over Catherine when we all went to bed at night. He was as faithful as any little dog might be.

On one occasion we were driving in the middle of nowhere on our way to new adventures at a new campsite. We had stopped at one point to take some photos of a lovely scene and did not notice that Le Mutt had fallen out of the car. After we had driven for many miles Catherine became inconsolable when she discovered that he was no longer with us. She was not able to recall the last time that she had seen him so he might have been anywhere along the hundreds of miles that we had already driven but her Pop instantly knew that he had to retrace our steps. 

He turned our truck around and we all craned our necks hoping to see Le Mutt somewhere along the way. he drove as slowly as he could on a highway with speeds in excess of sixty miles per hour. It seemed like we had driven forever without any sign of the pup when suddenly we all remembered the spot where we had taken pictures and we were now very close to being back there. 

As soon as it felt as though we had reached the place where Le Mutt might be we slowed down to a snails pace. We had to look across the road because we had been traveling in the opposite direction before we realized that Le Mutt was missing. I said a silent prayer that we would soon find him because I knew how heartbroken Catherine would be if he was never discovered again. Not even purchasing a new Le Mutt would do. She loved the worn one that my mother had sewn back together many times when his seams came undone. 

As if the heavens had opened to perform a special miracle we all suddenly saw Le Mutt lying on the side of the road. Pop carefully made a U turn and parked on the shoulder. Le Mutt was a bit dusty but none the worse for wear and of course Catherine was ecstatic. 

There is no end to the story. Catherine is now in her fifties and she still has Le Mutt. Because she lives in an area where wildfires often break out she has a “go bag” ready to grab in the event that flames threaten her home. Always near the bag sits Le Mutt, who is still a member of her family. Her children have all heard the stories of their mother’s adventures with the sweet pup and they treasure him as much as she does. Even her husband seems to understand how special Le Mutt is. 

We each have memories from our childhood that are so wonderful that we never forget them. We draw on them for bit of happiness whenever times get tough. We recall those family picnics at the beach, the Friday nights at Grandma’s house, the neighborhood antics and the bicycle rides with Linda and Susan singing Jesus Love The Little Children with voices so loud that everyone in the neighborhood must have heard us. Sometimes there is that one special object that earned our fancy that we cherish forever or maybe it is the memory of something wonderful that one of our parents did for us like my husband patiently driving many miles in the wrong direction to retrieve a missing stuffed animal. We know that what really happened in those times was the definition of love. 

My own story is a bit more simple. I was supposed to have a Big Chief writing tablet for school the following day. I did not remember until just before I was supposed to go to bed. Back then no stores were open past five in the afternoon. The odds that my parents would find one were slim to none. My mother tried to soothe me but insisted that I would have to go to school without my required tablet. 

When I awoke the next morning not one but two Big Chief tablets were sitting on my dresser. My mother told me that my father had driven all over town until late in the night hoping to find what i needed. It took him hours but he finally got lucky and came home triumphant. 

I can’t even begin to describe how much I loved my father in that moment or how much Catherine love her Pop for helping her find Le Mutt. My father died just a little over a year from the day that he saved me from the certain wrath of my teacher. When I think of him I always remember how much he loved me. Parents need to know that when they do something wonderful we never forget.