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A Christmas Miracle
Waldo has been with our family for 13 years. For the entire 13 years, Waldo has stayed in the garage at night but goes out during the day to patrol and protect his neighborhood. On December 7th, at 4:00 p.m., Waldo was observed in our front yard sunning himself. At 6:30, when we went out to call him to come in for the evening, he didn't come. We took flashlights and walked the neighborhood, calling for him. All during the night we'd go down and open the garage doors, hoping that he was there, ready to come in.
The next day, we checked with the neighbors (all of whom know Waldo), the emergency animal hospital, the Humane Society ... no Waldo. Day after day, night after night, we looked for him. I made a "Lost" flyer and posted it to our mailbox. We knew that something had obviously happened, but didn't know how - even though Waldo was "up in years" he was very street smart and we couldn't imagine that perhaps some animal in the woods had gotten the best of him. During a 2-1/2 week period, we decided that if Waldo wasn't home by Christmas morning, we would remove our "Lost" flyer and resolve ourselves to the fact that Waldo was gone.
At 11:45 p.m. on Christmas Eve, we received a telephone call from a young man 200 miles away who said, "I think I found your cat wandering around in a fast-food parking lot. This number is on the cat's tag." I didn't know if the call was a joke or not; I was careful to not supply any information - I responded, "What does the tag say?" He said, "Waldo. He's really skinny but seems to be OK."
We immediately spent that night driving to pick Waldo up and bring him home. He was exhausted and we could not imagine him wandering around in a business district 200 miles away and still be alive. We discovered, on Christmas Day morning, that some friends of a neighbor, who lived in the town where Waldo was found, had been visiting the day Waldo disappeared. We assume that Waldo somehow managed to get in the back of the truck belonging to the visiting friends and was transported so far away from home; when the back of the truck was opened, he must have jumped out and run.
Thanks to the kindness of the young man who called us, and Waldo's Love Your Pets I.D. tag, he is back, safe and sound, at home! The best Christmas present ever - our Christmas miracle!
-- Thanks to the kindness of the young man who called us, and Waldo's Love Your Pets I.D. tag, he is back, safe and sound, at home! The best Christmas present ever - our Christmas miracle!
