Hi Grammy!

We had a strange occurrence at our house sometime in November.   That we had a strange occurrence is not in and of itself strange for us.   The fact that it repeated itself and this time in front of witnesses made it a little more extraordinary. 

It’s no secret that I miss my little brindle greyhound Girly Girl.   She was my heart dog and I only got 3 ½ years with her.  Losing her to osteosarcoma was heartbreaking.  Well, losing her at all was heartbreaking.  Girly Girl remains a big part of my life despite her no longer residing with us in the physical sense.  Mumma talks to her all the time.  There have been many times when I have felt her nose bump me in the hip or behind just like she used to do.

I feel her around the house.  She has visited several times in dreams.  Believe it, or don’t believe it as you will.  But as for me and grandma, we believe.

Mumma was working one day in mid-November.  That involves sitting at my desk in my office at one end of my house.  Blue and Bettina spend 99% of their day with me on their office beds.  That was the case on this particular day. 

In the living room which is down a hallway almost at the other end of the house, we have some more dog

THE pillow on the dog bed in Girly Girl's space.

beds.  On one of those beds is a pillow.  This pillow is actually a version of a “pillow pet”.  It is a dragon which can be converted into a castle with some clever folding and a zipper.  I’ve never been able to figure it out so it stays permanently in castle mode.  There is a doorbell on this pillow that, when pushed, makes a noise of a dragon roaring.  I originally got the pillow for Blue but when he lays on it and accidentally pushes that button, it scares the crap out of him.  So the pillow stays at the far end of the largest dog bed.

We have had this pillow upwards of three years now and it has been a pretty good neighbor.  Nice and quiet.  On this mid-November day, the pillow started to roar.  Since we were all back in the office, this was an interesting occurrence.  The first thing that popped into my head was that the pillow may be short circuiting or perhaps the battery is finally dying.  I waited but there were no more roars.

Half as a joke, I said out loud, “Girly Girl, was that you?”  A couple seconds later, the pillow roared for the second time.  The hair on my neck stood up a little.  I double checked that Bettina and Blue were still with me in the office.  I thought these events over for a little bit then said, “Sweet girl, I really hope that was you, can you do it again?”  A couple seconds later, the pillow roared for a third time.

Two dogs, empty bed to the left.  Everyone stays on the carpet.

OK, getting into the realm of more peculiar.  I figured if this pillow was shorting out or dying in some way, it will roar itself out until the battery dies, or until I rip it to shreds when I’ve gone crazy listening to it.  So I said, “Baby girl, thank you for letting me know you are here with us.  Message received and you can stop making the pillow roar now.”  Then I waited.  And waited and waited.  The pillow never roared again.

Flash forward and we were celebrating our Christmas with family on the last Saturday in December.  Grammy was there as were Charlie, Fox and Crandall.  We were all enjoying visiting with each other.  I had moved Bettina’s princess tent downstairs so there was more room in the living room.  I put a bed in that place which was traditionally where Girly Girl’s bed always was.  No dog will lay on any bed placed in that spot.  It can be the most coveted bed in the house.  They walk up to it, look at it for a while and then lay on the carpet instead.  There was only one other bed in the living room, but 3 greyhounds.  (Blue of course, was supreme in his Man Cave.)  No dice.  One dog took the remaining bed and two dogs lay on the carpet. 

We were being merry and jolly when the dragon pillow laying on the bed in Girly Girl’s space and which had been silent since mid-November, roared.  I had shared my previous experience with Grammy so when this happened our eyes got big and we stared at each other.  I waited a second then said, “Girly Girl, is that you?  Can you do it again?”  There were a few seconds and the pillow roared again.  Grammy explained to Charlie why we were so excited about a pillow.  We talked it over for a little while, were there any other explanations?  After some debate it was decided I should try again.  So I said, “Sweet Pea, I can’t tell you how happy we are to have you here with us at Christmas.  Can you do it one more time?”  For the third time, the pillow roared.  Everyone’s hair stood on end.

There was some additional debate and we decided that it must be her.  Finally I said, “OK baby girl, we know you’re here now, so you don’t have to make it roar again.  The pillow made no further sounds that day.  In fact, it didn’t make any more sounds that weekend.

On the Tuesday following our little celebration, I was laying on the couch in the living room thinking about how nice Christmas had been.  I was thinking about how happy I was that Girly Girl had been with us and that she had found a way to let us know she was there.  So I said out loud, “Thank you sweet girl for showing yourself to Grammy on Christmas.  It meant a lot to all of us.”  A couple seconds later, the pillow roared. 

It has not roared since.