The Very Best Gift (4 page)

Authors: CONNIE NEAL

BOOK: The Very Best Gift

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A sad memory I had put away many years ago came back to me. I recalled that when I was six years old I was living at my mom’s house – which was a place where a lot of drinking was going on and people were getting drunk.
And
when people get drunk they are not very careful. That year for my birthday I got a little blond Cocker Spaniel
puppy
I named Sandy. I loved my puppy.

9
Sandy, My First Puppy at Age 6

But
within a few months, someone left the door open and Sandy got out. I heard that she
was hit by a car and killed
.

On my next birthday, when I turned seven, my mom got me another blond Cocker Spaniel puppy. We named her, Sandy 2nd.

10
Sandy the 2nd, My 7th Birthday Present

Again, within several months, someone
wasn’t
watching as they opened the door. I was at school when it happened but Sandy the
2nd
escaped and I never saw her again.

On my eighth birthday, my mom – lacking creativity – got me another blond Cocker Spaniel puppy, which I named Sandy the 3rd.

11
Sandy the 3rd, My Birthday Present at Age 8

I had that puppy longer than the first two, because I was very protective.
But
she also eventually got out and did not survive. No wonder I had not thought of that for decades; it was too sad.
But
losing Buddy brought back all the pain of my childhood losses. I wanted to help Taylor so he
didn’t
carry all the pain and loss of losing Buddy with him as he grew up.

So
, I told Patrick,

“Let’s remedy Taylor’s pain and mine. Let’s get a blond Cocker Spaniel and name him Buddy.”

Every Christmas, Grandpa Neal sends our family money so we can get gifts we know the kids will like. We had just received Grandpa Neal’s Christmas money. So we decided to take that and look to buy a blond Cocker Spaniel that we could name Buddy.

Now this was December 18, 1997, exactly one month since our poor Buddy lost his life. It turned out that I had to fly down to a business meeting at my agent’s office. I was taking the exact same flights I had taken the day Buddy died.
So
it was quite upsetting, remembering what had happened and how much had changed in just one month. The kids were very solemn as I left. No one said why
out loud
, but we were all thinking about that other day one month before. The kids did not know that we were on a quest to find a new “Buddy” before Christmas. Patrick and I stopped by the mailbox as we drove out to head for the airport. There with the mail we found the Pennysaver, a paper with classified ads selling things including pets. I quickly flipped to the Pets pages. There I found this ad:

Free to good home: 9-month-old male,

Cocker Spaniel; has all shots.

As we were driving to the airport, I used my cell phone to call immediately. The man who answered was surprised to get my call. He just happened to be home for lunch and
didn’t
realize the ad was out yet. I was the first to call.

The first question I asked him was,
“Is the dog blond?”

He said,
“Well, sort of; he’s like white with reddish buff spots.”

Close enough! I plied him with our family’s merits and promises to love and care for this dog. I conveniently skipped over the part where we left our previous dog in a situation where he came to an untimely end.

Then I asked,
“By the way, what is his name?”

You want to
guess?

Yep! His name was already
Buddy
!

I started crying, and went on to tell the man that we HAD to have that dog. He would be our Buddy! I tried to control my emotions because I
didn’t
want Buddy’s owner to think I was a crazy woman! He said he would keep us in consideration. Patrick dropped me at the airport and I flew off, not knowing
whether or
not
we would be chosen to have Buddy. The man who ran the ad about his Cocker Spaniel received over 200 calls that day and evening, but he told them
all that
Buddy already had a home. He had decided Buddy belonged with us. We
couldn’t
wait until Christmas, so Christmas came six days early that year. We put Buddy in our Christmas photo the next year. His red spots even matched Taylor and Haley’s red hair.