The Twilight Bark

Have you seen the part in 101 Dalmations when the puppies go missing and Pongo and Perdita use their network of canine friends to find them?  Even Scotland Yard couldn't find those puppies, but the Twilight Barkers did!  Sometimes it's like that, isn't it?  One small network of really good people with really good intentions can move mountains.

"it's the very fastest way to send news..." 

I have discovered recently that I have a network just like this.  I've always had it...I just didn't realize it.  Sometimes it's just a "gossip chain", but other times it has been that force that has come to my rescue when I've needed it the most.

Today I used The Twilight Bark to look for an hourglass for a church lesson tomorrow.  I blasted out 10 texts to friends in the area, and poof! in less than ten minutes, an hourglass appeared.

A few weeks ago when those two sweet boys from Mendon were in that terrible car accident, the "Twilight Bark" started at 6pm on the very night of the accident and continued through the week.  I heard about everything...the accident, the family, their teachers, their classmates, the funeral.  It was as if I still lived there.  I had worried when we first moved, that things would happen in Mendon without me and I would never know about them.   I don't worry about that anymore.  It was the most comforting feeling to know that I was still connected to my friends even though we were so far away.      

In May, when I was alone in a hospital with my dad, The Twilight Bark was the lifeline that kept me afloat when everything else was completely overwhelming.  I knew I was just a text or an email away from the people who loved me and I could feel their support from both coasts and everywhere in between, thousands of miles away.  Even though they couldn't be in the hospital with me, I could FEEL them.  On the day I got there, I received the most amazing email from my best friend telling me how brave I was to have gone to Houston alone to face what we all knew would be extremely difficult.  Amazing and brave were the last things I was feeling, but that email kept me going when the days were long and difficult.  Ten days later, when my dad passed away, I sent three texts and the "Twilight Barkers" did the rest.  And when I finally came home from that exhausting trip, the Mendon "barkers" were all there, already informed and ready to help me pick up the pieces.  

When we were in Hawaii last week, I felt that love and support again.  I had told a handful of people about the details of the trip before I left, and then the week's activities kept all of us busy.  I didn't have time to tell everyone, and I didn't really talk to any of them right before we left (and not at all while we were gone), but as soon as I got home, I immediately received texts and phone calls and emails from concerned friends wondering how everything had gone.  I am overwhelmed at the sincerity of the people who surround me...here, in Mendon, in Hawaii, everywhere.  I am abundantly blessed to have such good friends and such an amazing family.      

There have been many things in my life, both big and small, that have required the Twilight Bark.  There is no doubt in my mind that I will have to rely on my network again and again in the years to come.  I am grateful today for all of those people who support me and come to my rescue when I need them.  Thanks for finding my life interesting and letting me pour out the details of it to you.