Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Mystery or Plain Coincidence?

Here is another post about our dear friend, Beth. This post was originally from September 17, 2008, but prior to her death anniversary, I had decided to move this on today so that my blogger friend can read this.

Beth & Kakai

October 15, 2007, Inday, our cross-bred Labrador, gave us seven cute puppies. Ruby, my best friend, was there helping her while delivering those puppies, right in the doorway of our boarding house in the middle of the night. Left to herself, some puppies would have been died, but we were able to rescue them right away. We're just so glad that she won't go anywhere else. (By the way, the dog were both ours.)

The first-timer mother was very thoughtful and loving to her puppies, but we have to assist her on some things , too. We were giving importance in taking care to the puppies. Every early morning Ruby cleaned their little house while I prepared their food. We feed them three times a day. We enjoyed watching them fighting for food. We took them out from their little house every early morning and every late afternoon to have a good run for their exercise. It was really a fulfillment watching them grow healthy.


One month after, Beth, our friend from Ohio came to Philippines for her second visit to us. It mean, we will be busy travelling with her to wherever she wants to go. And it did. We were just so thankful for a concerned neighbor, Marlyn, who were very willing to feed the puppies while we were travelling with Beth. Though there would be some sacrifices because Marlyn can only feed them, twice in a day. And she can't clean their little house and can't take them down for a good run because she was working, too. We don't have a choice and feeding is the necessary thing to do though. And anyway, it will only be a week.

We left the puppies in the care of Marlyn for a week while all three of us went to Surigao. And while we're there, we regularly call her on cellphone for an update and for some instructions. There was thypoon then, and we were worried about their little house. Of course, we missed our puppies.

Beth was sick during her second visit in the Philippines. But she don't want to ruin her vacation. She still did what was planned and was enjoying. She was making fun out of it. We found her just standing under the rain. She loves water. She don't want to be rebuked about anything she does.


Beth was getting worse during her second week stay in the Philippines. There were times she was just in our place. She witnessed how we took care of the puppies. She enjoyed watching After her two weeks stay in the Philippines, she returned home to Ohio. As usual it was a heart-breaking good-bye and tight hugs in between us. The three of us agreed to believe that we will be seeing each other again some time next year.


Three months after, out of seven puppies, five of them we give away, while the two of them we kept. We named the black one, Kulot, (means curly) because he got curly hair on his back. And we named the other one, Kakai (name copied from the Philippine's famous "from-out-of-space-being"), because her skin color was gray.

Beth was not getting better after she leave Philippines. She was confined to the hospital on the following day that she arrived home. And the depressing part was, three weeks after, her friend Lynn, broke to us the sad news, her doctor said that she only have six months to live. We were stunned. That whole night, Ruby and I were talking about her between tears. We don't want her to go. She is our sister. We became a family.

Occasionally, if she got the chance, she still sent us emails and text message on our cellphones. She was trying to appear getting better. Until emails and text messages became dull and infrequent.

Kulot and Kakai grow up to be healthy and amusing. The funny thing was, they seem to understand and remember thier daily routine. They were watching the time. Kulot was the adventurist while Kakai was the loving one. Kakai love to just stay near us. Kulot was the big-eater. Kakai loved water. She loved to play in the basin with water.

February 12, 2008, Kakay was not feeling good. She don't want to eat and had a bad bowel movement. We didn't understand what was wrong with her. From a distance, we've found her staring at nothing. When we approached her, she pretended to be fine, she wiggled her tail as usual. She still played around. We seen her just standing under the rain, staring at us. All of a sudden it alarmed us. We remember our friend Beth. She acted exactly like her.

About the same time, Lynn e-mailed Ruby, told her that Beth was getting worse.

February 14, 2008, Kakay was getting worse. She still wiggle her tail when we talked to her. The bad bowel movement and the vomiting was an unpleasant sign. I cried. We don't want to lose her. But it crossed our mind about our friend Beth, too. Then, we decided, we were willing to give up Kakai in exchange for Beth's recovery.

4:35 p.m. I went to check Kakai. My heart broke. She just passed away. I went back to my room and cried. I thanked God for the four months that she was with us, making us happy and the love that we got back from her, too. We loved her so much to the point of sacrificing something just for her. She has become part of us. She was taken away from us.

6:40 p.m. Scott, Beth's husband sent us a text message. He wanted to talk with us. We hurried to the nearby internet cafe. There he broke to us the bad news, Beth passed away two hours ago. It shattered us. We were aware that she would soon pass away, but we were not yet ready for that. Too soon.

If you noticed, Beth and Kakai died on the same time and same day. And if you noticed that Kakai was acting like how Beth acted when she was sick. Some of our friends assumed that Beth visited us because she wanted to be with us even for just a short time, that her spirit penetrated into Kakai's body. It left us and all of our family and friends asking the same question, Mystery or Plain Coincidence?

3 comments:

Lee said...

Hi Grace, beautiful puppies. I love dogs.
Regret reading about your friends.
life can be so unpredictable.

But we enjoy warmth because we have been cold. We appreciate light because we have been in darkness.
By the same token, we can experience joy because we have known sadness.

You keep well and have a pleasant day, . Best regards, Lee.

Mary Humphrey said...

Stopping by to say God Bless!

Lulu said...

I always have fun reading your entries although sometimes it makes me cry.