When Bailey “got her wings” after a long and happy 19 years, her “mom” memorialized her in a slim-volume book.
Sandy Wilcox first saw her puppy on the front page of the Capital News. “My kids kept turning the paper face up and I kept turning it down. ‘No we’re not getting a dog,’ Sandy remembers saying over and over to them.
As always with these stories, a needy Bailey was bailed out of jail — almost literally as the police had picked her up after hearing she was being mistreated.
On her next pay day, Sandy paid Bailey’s fine at the dog pound. Though she kept some of that neediness throughout her life, the perhaps Doberman had found her forever home.
“The last few months of her life I spent time sitting with her, wondering what she was thinking. When I would go to work — the look on her face, and greeting me — I always put words to her face.”
The story she wrote came out of love and devotion.
“I thought every animal should have an end of life like she had. Someone to care for her issues when you know that there isn’t anything else you can do.”
Sandy calls a loved pet’s dying, “giving them their wings and letting them fly again.
“My grand children thought the book was very sad but I told them there’s something really good — Bailey’s story will go on forever and ever because it’s in print.
Sandy loved her Bailey, but she’s also a cat person at heart. At home this week are four cats she’s giving a temporary home. “People just bring them to me because they know I’ll give them their medications and try to find them good homes.”
Her book, One Thing I Know for Sure, is illustrated by local artist and author in her own right, Loraine Kemp. It’s published by another local entrepreneur, Jill Veitch, who has made it available to buy online at DirectFromTheAuthor.com.
