UNCIVIL

An Ode to Molly

This Ode has a wonderful story behind it. In fact it has moved me enough to include it in my side bar.

Please click here and visit Molly's Ode before you go any further. Be sure and have your audio turned up too!

OK.....now you can get out some tissue and wipe those tears away!

I was Lucky enough to come across this spiritual work of art while visiting a wonderful young lady's blog. Let me introduce "Wysteria" of the Forest and her wonderful blog, "It's All About The Dogs" !

She had found Molly's Ode by chance while searching Google images for a photo of a father and son fishing to enhance her original post back in November of 2005. It touched her deep in her soul. She was so moved that she posted it right that minute at the bottom of the post she was originally working on. It had nothing to do with her original post, but there it sat, waiting to call out to me one day.

I had been lucky enough to visit her blog this last week or so, and exchange comment's as we bloggers do. We had made several comments on each other's blogs over the course of a week. I was interested enough to read more and more of her blog. Then one night I saw that picture of a young boy fishing with his dog and a description of how she found it. The picture just captured an innocent moment of the companionship of a boy and his faithful dog at the water's edge. It intrigued me and her description was calling me to explore it further.

I clicked on "An Ode To Molly" and looked at the first beautiful picture of Molly on the pier with her back to the camera and the heavenly clouds reflected in the lake. The picture captivated me. I was not aware of the loading of the other pictures or the music as I read; "My first dog who was a happy and adventurous friend and family member. Deceased Oct 16, 2004".

Then the music was loaded and gently started to play as I slowly scrolled down all the pictures that mirrored the life of this most beloved family member. I thought about all the wonderful dogs that I was lucky enough to love like this. The ones I had lost. The ones I will more than likely out live. It was somehow magically captured right here in front of me. I started crying. They were good tears. It was a mixture of Joy and Pain.

I left a comment to Wysteria thanking her for posting it. I would open the "Ode" several times in the next few days wanting to know more about Molly and her story. She was like a mystery to me.

Then one day as I was visiting Molly's Ode, I decide to back track the link in the address bar. I found Molly's friend, and creator of "An Ode To Molly", Mr. Saxon!

I emailed him, and he gave me permission to share her story here on my blog.

Below is the response just as he sent it to me. I feel like "Paul Harvey" here!


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Hi Jimmy,

It had been quite a while since I'd looked at the page I set up in honor of Molly but it was just what I needed this morning. Thank you for picking up her story and bringing it full circle back to me.

I'm not entirely sure about the composer for Deep Peace but that sounds right. It was a piece I performed with an a capella group a couple years ago. It is a wonderful piece->peace.

Molly was born sometime in January 1996. In February '96, the local news station ran a story about 30+ dogs discovered trapped in an abandoned gravel pit about an hour north of where we live. There were multiple litters of puppies with emaciated parents. It had completely overwhelmed the small Mission Valley Animal Shelter and they were asking for good homes for all these dogs.

We loaded the kids in the car and drove up on the following Saturday morning. After a couple hours of meeting all the puppies, it was clear that one particular husky cross was coming home with us. The kids named her Molly on the way home.

She really didn't like being kenneled and much preferred to explore and make her rounds in our rural neighborhood. We even fenced a quarter acre for her and that just wasn't enough. We made a tough choice early on that we'd let her spend most of her time out and about.

About a year before she died, she was on one of her jaunts and didn't comeback. We scoured the mountain behind our house, all the neighborhoods for miles in either direction and didn't find her. After a few months, we'd given up hope. Six months later, we received a phone call about a dog from someone 15 miles away. We were quite skeptical but rushed down there and discovered Molly, no worse for the wear, and happy as could be to see us. The people who had called said they found her running around their neighborhood which was in a much more urban setting. We tried to find out where she'd been and what she'd been up to without any success.

A myth started that she'd hopped a train to Vegas to try her luck, lost all her money, spent some time on the street and decided she'd better get back to Montana. She stayed much closer to home after she came back from 'Vegas' but in the end, her wandering resulted in her death.

While my wife and I were out of town in October 2004 for a UM Grizzly Football game, she was struck by a car and killed crossing a road near our house. Our daughter received the phone call and with my mother went to retrieve her.

We knew that our choice to let her run free was potentially life threatening, but we also knew how much she hated to be stuck in her kennel or 1/4 acre. Although it was extremely difficult to lose her (twice really), we are still happy we let her live free and happy.

We had a small service and buried Molly up the hill on our property where she used to hang out. We had 8 wonderful years with her. Plain and simple, she was a great friend and member of our family.

Thanks again,
Molly's family

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OK....back to me now. I'm sure I wil be editing this post for quite some time. I just don't feel like I can do it justice. My lack of writting skills is an embarrassment.

Below are the lyrics to the song Saxon chose; "Deep Peace" by Bill Douglas featuring the Ars Nova Singers



Deep Peace

Deep peace of the running wave to you

Deep peace of the flowing air to you

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you

Deep peace of the shining stars to you

Deep peace of the gentle night to you

Moon and stars pour their healing light on you

Deep peace to you

Deep peace to you