Twas the nightmare before Christmas...

And a nightmare it was!







This is the dog...



Kijo



This is the friend who asked me to watch her beloved dog while she underwent labor

A little background:

Alisha and Orson have been our really good friends throughout medical school. They are amazing people. They have had Kijo since 1st year of school and honestly, they probably treat that dog better than most people treat their kids.

Back to the story:

I was happy to help when she asked if I'd be on call for when she went into labor. Kijo is the easiest dog on the planet to watch, she's almost like a cat (I'm sure Alisha would kill me if she reads this comparison). She never barks, she is calm and is content to just be. She is a little on the shy side though, and a couple of times Kijo would go up to my bedroom and hide under the end table by our bed. So when the call came from Alisha I was ready for the easy task.

Sunday night:

Travis was working that day so it was just Kijo, Avery and me. It was getting close to dinner time and also close to walking Kijo time. I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and put dinner on the stove then take Kijo for a walk. I know you are probably thinking what is coming next, but you are wrong. No, a fire didn't start in my house. But yes, when we got back, I had burned the noodles that had been cooking on low. It stunk pretty bad so I had to open all the doors and windows (they all had screens mind you.) I think you can see where this story is going. Travis gets home from work, we eat dinner (don't worry, I didn't serve burnt noodles). We hang out for a couple of hours, go visit neighbors, etc. When we get back to our house I decide to take Kijo out for a walk. Kijo is not in the living room. Kijo is not in her usual hiding spot in our bedroom. Kijo is nowhere to be found. We search the house for several minutes. I start getting a panicky feeling.

I have to start telling this story in 3rd person perspective because I felt like I was having an out of body experience:

Travis points out that the screen door was open. Milli really starts to panic, she hadn't seen Kijo since Travis came home 2 hours earlier and it was about 3o degrees outside. Travis walks down to the Bangert's house to see if Kijo is there. Kijo isn't there. Travis comes back. Milli breaks down and starts to sob. They search the house again. Travis leaves to go and look for Kijo. Milli stays and puts Avery to bed. Avery keeps asking why Mama is so sad. Mama and Avery say a tearful prayer on Avery's little toddler bed.They pray that they can find Kijo. Milli shuts the door and asks Jana to monitor while she goes out to help Travis. Brandi and Jim join the search party, along with Chris. Travis borrows their dog and brings her into our house to see if he can smell Kijo hiding somewhere. They search the perimeter twice and nothing.

Brandi and sobbing Milli get in Brandi's car and drive around the small town of Riverside. They don't see Kijo. They do see a police car at the gas station and get them involved in the search for Kijo. They drive back into the neighborhood and Brandi does a double take. "Is that Orson's car that just pulled into their driveway?" She asks. Milli gets a sinking feeling in her gut. "Oh crap, now I have to tell him the news, wait, why is he here, isn't his wife in labor?" They pull up to Orson and Milli tells Orson everything. Orson just looks at Milli and says, "yeah Travis called me so I thought I'd come and help search." Ummm....... he left his laboring wife to find their dog that Milli had lost. Milli has another breakdown, this was supposed to be the best day of the Bangert's life, and now she has not only lost their dog, but she is going to make the husband miss his wife's labor! Orson reasurres unstable Milli that he is only 6 minutes from the hospital and his wife is only at a 5.

The search goes on for another 45 minutes. Finally, everyone meets back inside the Charles household. Orson decides to look around the house because Kijo is an amazing hider. Orson searches for about 15 minutes and nothing. He goes upstairs and comes back down and asks if Kijo could possibly be in Avery's room. "Its not likely, we searched the closet and behind the armchair, there is no other place that dog could hide, but do what you need to do." We open the door, and excuse my language, but that damn dog walks out of her room.

Back to 1st person point of view:

What the crap Kijo!!! That dog had scrunched into a little ball and was hiding under Avery's toddler bed. Look how little the bed is...



There are about 6 inches between the floor and the bed. I about killed that dog after we found her, but the relief was amazing! The crazy thing about this story is, remember that part where I had said a prayer on the bed to find Kijo, she was probably licking my feet!

Orson's job was done and he made it back to the hospital to witness the birth of his first born (he had plenty of time, his wife was in labor for 30 hours!) Congrats to them for having a beautiful baby boy!

I fully recovered and slept very well that night.

This is what I found the next morning


Maybe this is why Kijo felt the need to really hide?

We love you Kijo!

Oh and thanks to all of my good friends who helped with the search! You all were lifesavers!