A Mother’s Guiding Hand

Happy Mother’s Day Everyone!

In honor of Mother’s Day, I thought I would share the story about how my mother played a big part in writing my first book, Molly Gets Her Wheels… even though she was no longer with us.

For those of you who have lost your mother, I am sure you’ll be able to relate when I say that our moms never really leave us even when they are gone from this

physical world.  Mine happens to appear just when I need her most and the day of our dog Molly’s accident was no different.

Since I was a little girl I have always written about the animals that surrounded me, which was A LOT. My mom loved reading those stories and always knew that I would become a writer one day.  When I started writing for business, she would read the articles and comment on them but every once in a while, she would look up at me and say “Are you ever going to write stories about your animals again?”. Those were her favorite.  Time kept passing and still, I never got around to writing my animal stories.

Fast forward to April 23, 2004, the day my mother passed away.  Two days prior, my mom spoke her last words to me, or to anyone for that matter.   We talked about what she was going to miss, what she was looking forward to in heaven and instructions on what she wanted me to do after she was gone.  Can you guess what one of those instructions was that she gave me?

“Sherry, I want you to write like you used to.  Write a story about one of your animals, people will love it and it will change things for you once you do”.  As tears streamed down my face, I promised her that I would, even though at the time, I had no idea if I would really do it.  My mom was a smart lady and she knew me very well, so I have no doubt that she already had a plan to make sure that came true ―  a plan that didn’t take her long to implement.

Two weeks later on a beautiful sunny day, Molly and our other dog Jake were napping on the second-story deck outside my office when a neighbor’s dog came wandering into our yard. Moments later life for Molly and our family changed.  There was commotion on the deck and suddenly Molly was sailing through the railing onto the ground below.

As I reached Molly, she was unable to move and I wrapped my arms around her half limp body.  That’s when my mother appeared. As I was screaming for help I could feel my mom’s hand on my shoulder trying to calm me.  She was there in the truck as my dad drove us to the animal hospital and she was there while we waited through the four hour surgery.  She never said a word, but her spirit was felt immensely. During this time, I prayed that Molly would be OK and that something good would come from this terrible tragedy, even though I couldn’t fathom what that would be.

While we were at the hospital, word started getting around to some of my writer friends and a few days after bringing Molly home my prayer was answered.  A newspaper reporter and photographer came to our house to do a story on what happened to Molly.  As soon as the story hit the paper interest in Molly’s life grew.   We started to receive cards, letters, toys and money from kids were sending in their piggy bank money for us to buy Molly something to make her feel better. We started a ‘Molly’s Fan Club’ with a newsletter so that people could follow her progress and meet her.  One day as my husband and I sat on our front porch with Molly and Jake surrounded by Molly’s fan mail, my mother reappeared.

This time she spoke to me saying “Sherry, do you remember your promise you made to me?  I think this is the story you should write”.   And so I did.  I hope my mother is right when she said people will love the story.   Only time will tell but I have a feeling my mom is going to be guiding me through this new journey and we will see where it takes me.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom, I love and miss you so much!!!

2018 © Sherry Carnahan