I was feeling a little down today, so I decided to get out my old laptop computer and log onto my graphics design program. Creating graphic designs is one of the best ways I have found to change my mood for the better.
As my Printmaster program opened, this picture came up on the screen… along with a lot of memories. My husband took this photo a little over nine years ago, as we were hiking through White Sands National Monument with our rescued cattle dog, Lady.
The night before this picture was taken, we were driving on an icy, dark, isolated mountain road in the southern part of New Mexico when we were stopped by a sheriff’s deputy and the border patrol and arrested at the point of assault rifles. After they ran our driver’s licenses they realized we weren’t the outlaws they were looking for and we were promptly released, with profuse apologies.
Although it was over very quickly, it was a terrifying experience — especially for two people with PTSD, both of whom have a history of trauma involving guns! Hiking through White Sands the next day put us right again.
I think it’s time for another hike. Lady isn’t with us anymore, she went over the rainbow bridge in 2015. But we have two other rescue dogs that have never been to White Sands. 🐩 🐕
PS: After our hike, we stopped by the Sheriff’s office to thank them for everything they do to keep the public safe, often at great risk to themselves, and to assure the Sheriff that there wouldn’t be any blow back from us over the false arrest. The Sheriff was surprised, to say the least. But they were looking for a heavily armed, violent man who happened to be driving a vehicle identical to ours, so the mistake was understandable. And thankfully, nobody was hurt, although we were scared half to death, for a few minutes!
Hiking through the incredible beauty of God’s creation — it does a body good.
A Blog About Healing From PTSD 
I never heard of the rainbow bridge before yesterday, when my daughter brought home a plaque for the spot where we will bury our cat this weekend. Now you use the term today. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and I like the thought. J.
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Aww. Tears, again.
My stepdaughter, whom I have grown to love like my own daughter, lost her precious old chihuahua on New Year’s eve. A few weeks prior to this, my stepdaughter came by for a visit with her three dogs. Although she looked and behaved the same as always, somehow I knew in my spirit that I would never see the oldest dog, Millie, alive again. Sensing this, I waited until I was alone with Millie, then I held her in my arms and prayed for her. I also asked her to tell our Lady girl how much I miss her, when she gets to heaven. I knew Millie would remember Lady.
I did not say anything to my stepdaughter about what I felt the Lord was telling me, because I didn’t want to upset her. But when she got home from her job on December 31, she called me a few minutes later. I answered the phone, and all I heard was sobbing.
“Is it Millie?” I said.
“Mom, she’s dying!” my stepdaughter said.
I cried with her as Millie took her final breaths. Then my husband went and stayed the night with his daughter. A few days later, when the crazy weather here in New Mexico warmed up enough that we could dig a grave, we buried sweet Millie.
We brought our two dogs with us, and they were in the yard while we dug the grave. Millie’s body was in a small cooler, frozen solid. The whole time we were there, our big yellow lab German shepherd mystery mix dog, Baby, that my stepdaughter and I had rescued off the streets in July 2016, kept crying. She was purposefully sniffing all the places where Millie used to lay, and crying at each place. Baby never does that!
Oh yes, I believe God gave our precious pets a soul. When Lady died in my arms, in March 2015… I don’t believe I have ever cried harder.
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This has been a tear-filled week for all of us here. Odd that Millie died the last day of the year, because we lost two cats around that time of year. Hermia had a heart attack and died on the second of January some twenty years ago, and Lysander spent several weeks in a hospice situation like Bo’s before fading away on the last day of the year sixteen years ago. J.
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How kind of you to stop by and assure them it was OK, and to thank them. Not many people would have done that. Not many people think to thank our law enforcement, but where would we be without them? I’m sure that made their day.
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Thank you. I don’t remember, now, if it was my husband’s idea first, or mine. I think it actually came to both of us, around the same time. This happened not long after there had been a mass shooting on a military base in Texas. And where we were, in southeastern New Mexico, wasn’t very far from there. So it was natural that the law enforcement agencies would be on edge.
What really amazed me was that my husband wanted to do that, to thank even the officers who had ordered us out of our truck with assault rifles pointed right at us. The last time my husband faced something like that, he was a Marine Corps rifleman in Vietnam. That’s where his PTSD comes from. My traumatic experiences with guns, only involved a small handgun. Still potentially very deadly, but … different, you know?
God heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds. Even the brokenness of PTSD.
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I can’t help thinking that by deliberately going back and facing them again, as friends and appreciative civilians, might have had a healing influence on your husband. I’m no psychologist, but it seems in the category of “facing your fears.” God bless your husband.
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Ha! I hadn’t thought of that. But you know, I believe you are correct.
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I remember white sands was a big deal to the people in Clovis new Mexico, where my late aunt Tillie lived that I used to visit. Me and my brother Jimmy used to have the funnest time out there.
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It’s like visiting another planet, almost, isn’t it?
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The most I can recall about it was from the road inside of a car.
I just meant that me and Jimmy had a ball as young boys in Clovis.
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I agree!!!!!!
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You know what, Lee? You make a great point. Thanks!
Lately, I have been looking at the temporal, not the eternal. My husband had heavy exposure to agent orange in Vietnam. When his battalion broke camp, my husband and some of the other young Marines were ordered to spray the area down with the toxic herbicide. No one knew how dangerous that poison is, least of all those kids right out of high school. They actually sprayed it on each other, on purpose, just “having fun.” My husband has had many health issues since then, which the VA determined to have been caused by agent orange. Many cancers are also believed to be related to agent orange exposure. Within the past few years, several of his Vietnam veteran friends have begun to succumb to cancer.
My husband was also stationed at Camp Lejeune, where the water was contaminated by many other chemicals, which also wasn’t known by the Marines at the time. Again, although I don’t know how they have proven the direct cause and effect, a large percentage of the Marines that were stationed there during that timeframe, are now coming down with various cancers.
Earlier this week, my husband’s doctor removed four large inflamed growths, one on each side of his chest, and two on his upper arm. We should learn the results of the biopsies this coming Wednesday, when he has a follow-up appointment. In the meantime, I feel like we are both holding our breath, and running out of oxygen. And at least one of us has been uncommonly cranky. 😉
Unless Jesus comes back first, nobody is getting out of this life alive. I know this. I just really hate cancer. And I really love my (cranky) husband.
But I need to get my eyes off the temporal, and onto the eternal. Thank you for the gentle reminder, Lee.
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I will pray for y’all right now.
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Thank you! I have seen some truly astonishing miracles happen when true Christian believers pray in His name!
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I also think the the other dogs should go for a hike to see God’s creation.:))
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Whoa, how scary!! I know that Lady is peaceful over the rainbow bridge. ❤️💐
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Awww! Happy-Weepy Warm Fuzzies! 🙂
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Loved Printmaster back in the day. Do you ever use Canva?
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No, still using Printmaster
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Kick the wheels on Canva.com. It’s free and can be used as an app or via their website. It’s like Printmaster to the nth degree.
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Thanks for the tip! I will try it out, when I get a few spare minutes. I spent most of today writing and now I am way behind on everything.
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