Chapter 21 – Psychic Bond?

unloading

Gabby supervises the unloading of the car at Kim’s family’s house

In 2004 I met a Canadian woman named Kim and we dated for a while.  We drove up and down the east coast, seeing great sights from Savannah, Georgia to Ottawa, Ontario.  She worked in technology and loved photography as much as me, so we had a lot in common and we had a lot of fun. I still have thousands of pictures from our adventures, as well as many great memories.  
 

toronto


View of Toronto from Toronto Island.  Kim and I spent a nice afternoon there.
 

Kim lived near downtown Toronto, but her family lived south of her, in the country.  They had a comfortable home with a beautiful yard, and Gabby and I would visit and stay there when Kim was visiting her family. We all became friends, and Kim’s family members were dog people too.

We would often sit in a swinging chair under the big maple tree, enjoying the summer breeze.  Sometimes it would just be me and Gabby, sometimes Kim and her dog Shannon would join us, and sometimes the family dogs would join us, too!

treats_w_dogs

Giving treats to the dogs.  Of course, Gabby didn’t get too close to the other dogs…

toocute

Too cute!  Gotta zoom in for a close-up here.

Toward the end of the summer Kim’s church was hosting an all-day event at a farm ten miles from her rural home in Canada. These events were an important part of their lives, so I went too.  The event ran from 8:00 am until about 6:00 pm, with the religious portion done by the early afternoon. The rest of the day was for socializing.
This was an unforgettable day for me, because something happened that I still cannot explain.
It was around 3:00 pm, about seven hours into the event. Kim and I were talking as we walked through a field. Out of the blue I had a sudden premonition and immediately stopped dead in my tracks. I said to Kim, “Something is wrong. I am going back to your house to check on Gabby.”
Kim assured me Gabby was safe and locked up in her house with her family’s dogs, just as we left them. In fact, her sister was last to leave the house and she assured us she checked on the dogs before she left, and they were safe and secure, locked inside. I felt a very strong foreboding, so strong I felt extremely uncomfortable. 
I told her, “I’m going back.  You can stay here if you want, that’s fine, I don’t mind… but I am going back, right now.”
After spending seven hours at the event, Kim was ready to go back anyway.  So, we hopped in my Mini and drove to her family’s home.
We got there 15 minutes later to find all the dogs loose outside and Gabby in the driveway, looking for me. She was only 50 feet from a high-speed country road.  The dogs had found their way outside and had I not gotten there when I did, she probably would have been hit by a car or gotten lost. 
Kim was in shock.  “I can’t believe this. They must have found a door cracked open somewhere, and gotten out.”
Gabby was down at the end of the driveway by the garage door, sniffing around with a concerned look on her face.  As I pulled the car to a stop, she looked in my direction.  As I got out of the car, she made eye contact and started trotting slowly up to me, still looking apprehensive.

gabdonmini(1)

Safe in my arms again… disaster averted!

I picked her up and she seemed very relieved. As relieved as she was, words can’t begin to express how relieved I was, knowing what we had just avoided.  The thought of finding her by the side of the road after being hit by a car, or never being able to find her at all, and driving home without her… I quickly pushed these thoughts out of my mind. She was warm, happy and healthy in my arms, and everything was OK.
Somehow, in the middle of the day from ten miles away, I knew right when she needed me. Gabby and I always had an amazing connection, but on this day, it seemed miraculous and supernatural. 
I told my spiritual adviser and good friend, Reverend Tami, about this experience years later. I asked her what she thought happened, how I could have known in the middle of the day, ten miles away, that Gabby was in trouble and needed me.  Her response was one I will never forget.
“Why do you need to know?  Can’t you let it be a mystery, and appreciate that it happened?”

Words to live by.  I’ve had other seemingly miraculous experiences in my life with my little dog, which you will read about later in our story.