The Life and Times of Miles

Well, I've had this post sitting in the queue for awhile. Perhaps the trauma has faded enough now for me to say a few words. This was taken summer 2014. We are in memory grove, a favorite hiking spot, perfect for little legs and little dogs. On this particular day, Miles decided to keep running ahead of me while we were on our way to the car. No problem, I was able to keep up and keep him in my sights. Then we get to the sidewalk leading to the cars. This is on a dead end street which eventually opens up and leads to the Avenues, or downtown, depending on which way you turn. At this point, Miles thinks it's hilarious to keep scooting away from me, you know, a game of keep away. I think, no problem, he'll stop at the car, which I communicate to him to do, but as he sees me draw nearer, he takes off. I yell to him to stop, but he is fast. I'm running now and by the time I get to the end of the block, he has disappeared. Gone. He does not answer my calls (b/c this is the hilarious part of the game), and I cannot find him anywhere. Fast forward, frantic running, talking to people, calling Miles, and crying, lots of crying, I decide to call the police. I have no idea where he's gone and I don't want him wandering around the streets much longer, making it harder to find him. My brain has virtually imploded at this point. BUT! I keep talking to people, asking if they've seen him (and I'm sure scaring the hell out of them with my tear-streaked face and frantic nature-not to mention breathlessness after running all over creation and back!), and lo and behold, Mr. Miles shows up at the end of the street, in the exact place I lost him-seen by a gentleman I had JUST talked to! I cannot even describe the feeling of RELIEF (quickly followed by extreme annoyance which I had to temper). Turns out, he had rounded the corner and run down this weird little side street that was sort of like a dirt road. Guess the fun ended when he realized no one was playing with him anymore. I'm so glad he figured out how to turn around and head back. He also seemed quite unfazed by the whole experience. The police showed up at this point and the officer was very nice. She was calming and gentle and tried to normalize the whole experience. All in all, I don't think that much time had passed. I can't be sure because, well, my brain turned to mush, but I'm guessing it took no more than 30 minutes for all of this to transpire. Longest 30 minutes of my life!

Fast forward, winter 2014/15: We've all recovered at this point, in fact, I'd all but forgotten/blocked it out. However, there were definitely a few months of strict rules about how far ahead he was allowed to run and lots of practice listening to me when and if I yelled 'stop.' Ha! Now I know why I stopped blogging. It all seems so fine now, but it took me a minute to recover from this little incident and I was definitely not in the mood to recount the tale. Alas, time is the great healer. A faded memory.