A worst nightmare (partially) come true.

One of my worst nightmares when we moved into our new house was that Ginger would get out & get hit by a car.  My other, even worse nightmare, was that Peyton would get out.  The reason for this anxiety is because we live off a semi-busy street with a constant flow of cars during the day.

Well, Ginger escaped this morning (Steve was at work) and I'm still coming off of the shakes from it all.  I just KNEW that she would get out eventually, as it seems to somehow happen a few times a year.  And to make matters worse, she wasn't wearing her collar, which we take off because when she shakes, it's super loud...

I took out the trash with Peyton, shut the gate, and before I knew it, Ginger was walking past me in the alley.  Let's clear this one up -- she squeezed through a space between the gate and the oleanders which I didn't even know existed until today.  I am super careful about shutting the gate/door behind me for this reason alone.

She started acting all spastic and I knew it was over.  A, what felt like 30 minute chase but was probably more like 15 minutes, is what followed.

She took off down and around the alley to Campbell, the main street.  Peyton was chasing after me as I was chasing after Ginger.  Once I hit Campbell, I just sat there and freaked out as Ginger ran up and down the sidewalk.  A (weird) man riding a bike in the bike lane freaked out when he saw her and swerved into the road, which caused the car behind him to swerve into the oncoming traffic lane -- my major freak out moment #1 (besides from the fact this was really happening).

Now Ginger's in our front yard, Peyton is by my side, and Ginger darts across the street.  I finally think straight and take Peyton inside where I told him to watch us out the window (he thought this was a fun game).

For the next 10 minutes, Ginger is roaming the yards & darting back and forth across the busy street.  She approaches a man walking and I tell him she's nice and to please grab her.  He tries, only for Ginger to get all spastic on him, which freaked him out and he was outta there (can't blame the poor guy.)  I loose sight of her for a few minutes, all while imagining someone taking her and with no collar on, keeping her.

The she comes out from behind the house across the street, only to dart across the road, then dart back.  Half the cars don't see her as they're driving down the road, and the other half see her as she's getting ready to dart across the street -- a handful of cars had to slam on their brakes while she crossed the road, only to give me a nice, dirty look, all while I'm in panic mode thinking, "WHY THE HELL ISN'T ANYONE STOPPING TO HELP ME?!  HHEEELLLPPPP!!!"

Finally after about her 10th dart (and I mean full blown, as fast a you can, biggest stride she's ever made, type of dart) she nearly, literally, got hit by a Suburban.  At this point, I was so freaked out I was screaming "Oh My God!  Oh My God"  I had my hands over my face and I was in pure panic.  Had the suburban and Ginger not both stopped, she would've gotten hit.  I don't ever want to witness ANY dog get hit by a car, let alone my own.

She made it across the street and ran right up to me.  Right at this point, a man had turned around and was about to get out and help me.  I grabbed her and then waved to thank him, then he drove off and I dragged that dog into the house where I shut the door and just collapsed on my bed in tears.

My adrenaline was flowing so high and as soon as it was all over, I was weak and shaky.

I don't EVER want to go through that again and I'm not quite sure what the lesson was that I was supposed to learn from this, but I'm sure it was a good one.  :)