Louie Unleashed
Louie joined Pat and me when we relocated from Ruston to Baton Rouge in 2013. God had begun stirring our hearts regarding the move and sent Louie to us for the journey. If audible words could have been spoken, God said something like, "I'm sending you a hound dog as a companion. You will spend many hours over the coming years walking the neighborhood with him. I have much to speak into your heart as you do."
I could write a novel about our years together. Maybe I will one day. We unleashed Louie to go to heaven last summer, and his presence is deeply missed. But God sure knows the timing and all the reasons. I have no doubt that we will be together again when it's my time to go home, and he will be watching through heaven's window as that time nears. In the meantime, he is completely free of that leash and is discovering all the joys of life there. I'm doing pretty good too, though I still haven't quite gotten comfortable going for a walk without a leash in my hand.
Here's to you, Louie. Pat says you won the lottery on May 5, 2012. Actually, I did. God sent us a winning ticket when he sent you.
The following blog post was made a few years ago, and every word is entirely true.
From the post Louie Lesson, January 13th 2022:
Photo by @melaniekay.photo
Puppy Louie sat in the grass outside the breakfast room window of our home in Ruston and barked. It was May 5, 2012.
(Cinco de Mayo) He was perfectly centered in the yard and was looking directly at me. After luring him toward me with some leftover dog food of Anna’s dog Roux, he ate, crawled into my lap and began licking my face. My first phone call was to Loyce Miller who besides sharing my love for animals, had been after me to get a pet to fill the loss of our beloved Fletcher who had died two plus years earlier. She gave me an honest answer that she had not dropped him off, so I figured though he wasn’t well kept, he was sure cute and must belong to someone. We went to the vet’s office to check for a microchip and there was none. By examining his teeth(very bad teeth, I might add), the veterinarian guessed him to be around 4 months old. I left a note and photo of him on the bulletin board in the waiting room and put out some other messages in the area about the “found puppy”.
After purchasing some flea and tick medicine, I headed home to bathe the little guy. When Anna and Mary Glenn got my message and photo, they said to immediately remove the post at the vet! He was too adorable and someone would simply claim him to be theirs. Pat, Jonathan and Lyle were at the annual Lyons boys’ golf tournament and thus I was alone at home. How do I tell Pat that the dog had truly just shown up??
There was one phone call from a guy whose dog had gone missing. Louie had been with me one night and I was already crazy about him, so I had a massive lump in my throat thinking I would have to give him back. It wasn’t his after all. I was relieved but sad for the poor guy trying to locate his beloved pet.
As the golfers walked the brick path to the back door, I thought…. Well here goes. I told the story and with Louie sitting at my feet, Pat looked straight at him and said, “Well dog, you just won the ******* lottery.” I won’t share the expletive. Whether he fully admits it or not, Pat loves Louie. Or more honestly said, Pat loves me and thus lovingly tolerates Louie.
He just “showed up.” Louie was helpless, dirty, hungry, and I suppose was lost. He is now housed with us and comfortable, relatively clean at the moment, well fed( yes, I buy the good stuff), and found. He sheds….a lot and barks…. a lot. His teeth are still bad and require periodic surgical cleaning. He costs us in time and care and money. He’s the most perfectly imperfect hound dog. No genetic testing has been done. He’s of medium size and is quite average. He has no pedigree in the world’s judgement, but I don’t care. He’s Louie. He did nothing to deserve or to earn his adoption. He just showed up and I suppose at just the right time.
Here’s the Louie lesson - Just show up at God’s window. He’s there looking out at you and He hears you. He’s got more than enough of what you could ever want or need. Let Him feed you, clean you up and tend to you. Become His. Sit in His lap and kiss His glorious face. He likes it. I can see His smile and hear His giggles when you do.
