Jessee has had a rough two years living alone away from his beloved family. Over time he has become thinner and his hair is ratty and dull in color. Jessee was still hunting and eating and sleeping and going through the motions of living. But just surviving was not enough—he was literally failing to thrive because he was not receiving the love he was missing.
Jessee now lies by the sweet smelling water as he drifts in and out of consciousness; he is extremely weak. The weather is getting cooler now and his only thoughts are of his lost family. To his last breath he will fight to see his family one more time.
It was a cool morning and his breath was becoming shallower. Jessee was barely aware of his surroundings when suddenly he could feel warm and gentle hands picking him up. Were they angels carrying him to heaven, he thought? Is it over before I can see my family again? A tear appeared once again at the thought.
Weeks later Jessee woke up out of a coma. He looked up into the most beautiful loving pair of eyes that he had ever seen as he realized, “Wow I can see.” He once was blind, but now he could see, and he wasn’t even in heaven. He found out later that he was in a hospital. While he was in a coma, the veterinarian had surgically removed his cataracts. He could hear other dogs barking and birds chirping and cats meowing, all which were in the hospital with him. His ears had been cleaned and his fur had been brushed. Even his sore hip joints felt better—he felt like a new dog!
Yet, his thoughts soon focused on his first love. The doctor knew this wonderful dog must have had a family and put an ad in the paper about Jessee needing them. He wrote a plea for the real owners to please come, so Jessee’s broken heart could be mended. The doctor didn’t bother to ask for him to be adopted because somehow he knew that just any home would not do.
The kind doctor expected someone to come, but an entire family showed up—unheard of. Jessee was out back in his large pen, and you could see the expression on his face slowly change; his ears perked up, his eyes were wide and bright with excitement and he was smiling. He could smell them, hear them and sense them despite the long yard and the walls and the doors. He was not about to wait, he had never jumped so high as he cleared that fence and bounded through the doors into the arms of his beloved family.
Jessee had many tears flowing now--not sad tears, but happy ones.