It was a spring day in 1986. I had a doctors appointment in Dallas and I was on my way home. The area I was in is known as Cedar Springs and for years after I started flying, this was home. On this particular day, I opted to go down Cedar Springs Ave. past some of the places I use to live. As I got to a light, I looked ahead and lo and behold, there was a very skinny black dog just having a fine time, romping and playing with another older dog right in the middle of the intersection. I had just had surgery on one of my elbows and had my arm in a cast so I didn’t know how I was going to get these two playmates out of harms way. As luck would have it, a couple of young men were walking along the street and offered to help. The older dog took off but the little black pup came right up to me and the boys picked her up and put her in my truck and off we went. Yes, you guessed it, it was on a Monday and it was May so naturally, she was then and forever, “Monday May”.

She was so thin you could see every bone in her little body. I guestimated that she was probably six to eight months old.

As you might imagine, I already had six dogs and although there wasn’t a limit on the number of animals one could have in the area I lived, I decided to find her a home. After she was spayed, vaccinated and began to put on much needed weight, I began to look for her a home. A young man fell in love with her and she was adopted by him. Unfortunately, he was not as responsible as I thought and she got out of his yard some way and was hit by a car. He called me and I told him to take her to my vet, which he did. Needless to say, I told him she would not be returned to him if she survived. Well, survive she did with apparently no visible damage until one morning about a week later when she couldn’t raise her head. We weren’t as lucky as we thought. There were several discs in her neck that had slipped out of place causing a great deal of pain. She was put in a cast from her neck to about half way down her body. She was still growing and thankfully, the treatment worked because she grew out of her cast after several weeks. When it came off, she was good as new.

Today, November 19, 2000, Monday May crossed the Rainbow Bridge. She was a wonderful animal and she is and always will be missed. She is the first to be buried at our new sanctuary. Her job on this earth was to let all the animals know how things were done and that if I raised my voice, that I was just trying to be heard over all the barking. She also was in charge of letting me know when everyone was ready to come in by standing back from the others and issuing a very deep, loud, steady bark until I did my job and opened the door.

The decision to allow my Monday to cross over was not easy. Loving an animal puts us all at risk of heartbreak sooner or later. I can't imagine not having loved her though and while it hurt to lose her, she will always be in my heart and some day, all the animals that have gone on before will once again walk by my side.