Terrible Tuesday

We had a 3 day weekend last week, with Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr Day.  It was a great weekend that included lots of time with friends and family.  Tuesday morning started out good.  I woke up before my alarm and actually felt rested. Hayes was still asleep, and that in itself was a miracle. Jason left for work after taking the daycare bag to my car and the day was getting started.  Then a gust of wind changed everything.  The wind blew the front door open and both of our dogs ran out.  I ran to get the bag of treats to try to tempt them back to me. The fact that it was 6 am and still dark outside did not help my search.  I called their names and went back in the house to get a flashlight, leaving the front door open.  When I went to go back outside Mattingly came walking through the front door. Praise God!  I just knew Scout would be a few feet behind her.  I was wrong.  I spotted Scout on the corner about to make her way to the next street.  I was torn because my 4 month old was asleep in the house and my puppy was roaming the neighborhood.  I knew I could not go far from the house so I had to hope Scout would come back on her own. Meanwhile, Jason was on his way home to help me find her.  Luckily he hadn't gotten very far from the house.  After a few Scout sightings Jason decided that I should go to work and he would continue to drive around and look for her.  She was having fun exploring and did not want to come to us.  I was about five minutes away from Hayes' daycare when I got the call I had been fearing.  It was Jason saying that a woman had found Scout.  She was in the middle of the road and walking in circles.  She needed medical attention.  I had no idea what the extent of her injuries would be.  I just knew Jason was on his way to meet the kind woman who stopped to help our little dog.  Jason took her to the vet and she had no broken bones, but had pretty sever head trauma and some road rash.  It seems as though a car had hit her, but gone over the top of her so that it hit her head and then rolled her.  I went to see her that evening at the Vet and she looked so sad and confused.  The vet told us to give her 24 to 48 hours to see how she did.  He was giving her medicine and fluids and I was praying that she was not in too much pain.  Scout spent 3 nights at the vet and got better with each passing day.  She is home with us now and it still in some pain and a little confused, but she is definitely on the road to recovery. 
It amazes me how much my fur babies mean to me (I cringe to think how I will feel when Hayes skins his knee the first time).  I know that my first and oldest fur baby, Floyd, will be leaving us sooner than I would like.  This incident with Scout made me acutely aware of how short and sweet the lives of our four legged friends really are. They bring us so much joy and unconditional love.  Sometimes I think that people could learn a lot from dogs.