Murphy’s View: The Everglades

Alligators, snakes, and panthers, Oh my!  I just love it when we load our pack up into the truck and takeoff for a new adventure. This time we were headed to a place called Everglades National Park. Dad (who is the alpha of our pack) said something about it being dangerous for dogs on the trails and all I heard was blah blah blah blah. Dangerous. I can outrun an alligator. Who does he think I am? 

Anyway, it was exciting to go on a trip where mom didn’t have to wear that thing she puts on around her middle. She called it a brace I think. It all started a long time ago when we were camping and mom and dad were taking off each morning with some friends to go on a bike ride. But I made sure the house stayed safe, and I kept an eye out by sitting at the dining room table looking out the window.  And sometimes special friends would come by and say hi and take me for a walk while mom and dad were out riding their bikes. It was a great time.

But then one day everything changed. Mom and I were out on our early morning jog and I spied something in the dark that looked like I needed to chase it away to make sure mom was safe.  When I started to charge after it, mom yelled at me to stop, but it was too late and the next thing I knew she was laying down on the ground, not moving. She told me to lay down and to stay and the next thing I knew dad showed up in our truck and put mom in the backseat.   Dad brought me to our camping house and left with mom still in the backseat.  She was gone for a very long time. Our friends would come by and see me and feed me and play with me. That was really nice.   

Then mom came home. Yay!  But mom was not the same, she was walking really really slow with that brace thing on.  She said her back was broken in three places.  I felt so bad.  But she wasn’t mad at me.  She said she knew I was trying to protect her.  She spent a lot of time laying on my bed.  Well, mom and dad call it a couch, but it is where I spend the night to sleep, so it’s my bed.

The first big difference was mom wasn’t taking me on my morning walks anymore, Dad was.   And then, we left where we were camping and we drove back to our house in Florida.  Mom still laid on the couch a lot, but she did start going on our morning walks, but Dad held my leash. 

As the days went by, Mom seemed to be doing more and more stuff, but she still had that thing around her body, and she didn’t do all those movements on the floor like she used to do every morning. I think she called it Yoda and lattes?   Anyway, the big thing I noticed was they were not going on their bike rides every morning which was great as I got to spend a lot more time with mom and dad.

After four long months, (that is what Mom said) she was able to take that thing off that she always wore around her body.  Finally!   She seemed very happy about that.  She’s still moving slow but doing the stuff she used to.  Yay!

Oh, I was supposed to be telling you about the Everglades. I think I got derailed from my story thinking about my mom.   Sorry about that. It is now time for my dinner so you know what that means…FOOD!    I will tell you about the Everglades really soon. I promise.   Murphy the alligator wrestler!