Heidi

In a movie about detective Elliot Ness, he repeatedly says, “Let’s go do some good.”  One day Mr. Ness walked into the locker room to overhear the men he worked with laughing and mockingly saying, “LET’S GO DO SOME GOOD.”  They stopped when they noticed him standing there.

I have always remembered these lines in the movie because, crazy as it may seem, I want to ‘do some good’ each day. I recently visited my farm and family and friends in Ohio. I imagine one day just going for fun, but needed to cut 5 of my 30 acres of grass/fields, take care of groundhog issues, substitute teach, and many other work-related things. I was also asked to do some veterinary work while in town.

On Thursday I arrived at my friend’s home to administer rabies vaccines to her many dogs. She shared one of her dogs was having discharge and was not spayed. Uh-oh. Problem for sure. Since my friend does not have abundant financial resources and Heidi is 12 years old, she knew the pet would eventually suffer if not spayed, so she asked me to not allow her to suffer. The difficulty in this situation was that the pet was still doing well and savable, but not forever.

I did not know what to tell her, so at first I said nothing. Being in town without any equipment, medication, a surgery table, and everything necessary to help her pet, I was at a loss, but really wanted to try to ‘do some good.’ I made a phone call to a man who fired me 5 years ago, but we have still remained friends. I told him about Heidi and how I had nothing to work with and would not be upset if he refused, but really wanted to help my friend and her dog. I asked for help.

On Friday, I was busy finishing up my farm chores when I received the news that this man graciously extended his facility and all I needed to help Heidi. Elated, I drove into town as fast as I could. I had limited time because my rental car needed to be returned, I needed to trade out a fan I purchased for a friend and return the first fan, and try to squeeze in a complicated dog spay. I phoned my friend to tell her the news that it would not cost any money to try. We have been offered help. I phoned her at least 10 times on her cell and home phone. She assured me her work was completed by 12:30pm and it was already 1:30pm.

I said to myself how I would tell her how angry I was that I was trying to get a hold of her, made these special arrangements, etc and she couldn’t even answer her phone!! After all, that’s why we have convenient phones. Finally, we connected. She cried when I told her we were going to try. I never did yell at her.

The surgery went well, Heidi recovered and my friend still has her precious pup. We did some good. It feels good. They have more time together.

Share your stories with us.