Sandra Larson’s Blog

Ms. Larson:

I am just an old (soon to be retired) cop who lost his two “children” several years ago and live each day with a secret hope that somehow when this life finally winds down that somehow I may be re-united with my loved ones. Evie and Popeye were Bull Terriers (Spuds Mckenzie dogs) that I and my first wife, Ellen, rescued from local shelters. Popeye, a white male, had been terribly abused. He carried many scars on his body. He had been rescued from a Research Facility. I often wondered why he loved “humans” so much, especially me, after being treated so awfully. Popeye was my only child. When Ellen died, he kept me from going insane with grief. He spent many a lonely night with me in my patrol car. (He thought he was a “police” dog.) Sometimes I think losing Popeye was worse than losing my wife of 30 years.

Evie was my daughter, another white bull terrier. She was found wandering alongside Highway 20 outside of Atlanta by a vending truck. She was obviously well taken care of. She was clean and vermin free. We thought she may have wandered away from her owner(s) at a Rest Stop along the highway. Try as we might we could not find her family so, she became a part of mine.

Several years after we found Evie, she was bitten by a “Brown Recluse” spider and became very sick. Ellen was a Vet. Technologist at the time and was able to get her emergency treatment. She spent several months in a Vet hospital eventually recovering but had lost all of her beautiful white hair down her back and hindquarters. She became my little “Bare-Butt” daughter.

Over a period of several years, Evie slowly became lame. She was having trouble moving and I made the decision to have her euthanized. Even now, several years after this event, I shed tears. It hurt so much to lose this beautiful soul.

Ms. Larson, I don’t know if you will let me know anything about both of my loved ones, but if you can communicate with one of them, give me some hint of their existence in the afterlife, perhaps if I knew that Evie did not condemn me for ending her life. If I had some inkling of hope that I might be with them again sometime, it would mean so much to me.

I have been extremely lucky over the years with 40 years in Law Enforcement and married to two beautiful women. Last week I had to go in the hospital to have some surgery on my heart. Being childless, I did not have too many people (other than my current life-mate, Sherry) at my bedside. All I could think about was the possibility that Evie and Popeye might be waiting on me. Silly, I know, big macho cop that I am. I grieve so much for my deceased family.

I know you are swamped with requests, however if you think you might have time to check on this I will send you some pictures in a separate E-mail.

At any rate, thank you for listening to my story,

Everett