Good Golly Miss Molly

I still can't figure out if I was elated or relieved the day Molly passed her tracking test. I didn't think this day would ever come after going through such a hard time to get Molly certified - going through 3 cars and having trouble meeting with several judges. I knew Molly could do it - it was just a freak of nature preventing Molly from proving she was a good tracker. I do thank Bea Connelly for being there for me to certify Molly and also judging her the day she got her T.D.

Well, the day of the test I didn't get an ounce of sleep that night for fear I wouldn't wake up in time and miss the last test of the year. Well, I left at 4:30 a.m. and got there in time with half an hour to spare. OK, SO FAR SO GOOD. The weather reports kept saying severe storms coming up the coast and to expect rain. The temperature dropped to 38 degrees (well, at least it's not below freezing, and she should still be able to track).

Tracking orders were pulled, and Molly was #5 out of 8. The first 3 dogs passed. HURRAY, SO FAR SO GOOD. She'll probably fail - someone has to fail. As we watched the dogs run their tracks, we became frozen as we stood there, so I jumped in the car and turned on the heater to warm up before we went on our track. All I could imagine was getting all tangled up because my fingers were frozen and uncoordinated. I felt very clumsy. OK, I was all warmed up. Someone approached the car to tell me we were next. OK, MOLLY, THIS IS IT. I was told to walk up over a hill to get to the track, and as I did an old spiritual song hit me, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow..."., and I finished singing it till I got to the top of the hill. Then I saw the flags. "Oh God, please let us pass. We worked so hard to get to this point," I babbled as I walked. We reached the judges. "OK, I'M STILL WARM. LET'S DO IT." The judges rolled down their window saying, "Track's not ready for ten more minutes." OH NO, I'LL BE FROZEN BY THEN. Well, our ten minutes seemed like a half hour. Finally it was time. With Molly all excited, we started out, and she stopped before the second flag and looked around. "PLEASE MOLLY, TRACK, TRACK', and off she went, pulling me and every bone in my body. She did her turns nicely and pulled like I never thought I could survive it. As we should be coming near the end I thought, "Where's the Glove?" Molly kept wanting to go to to the street, and all I kept thinking was they don't have roads in a TD test. Now I realize it was the tracklayers' tracks leaving the track. "No, not now, not at the end, we can't fail now," so I backed up and backed up again, and GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY, she found the glove. As I ran up to the judges in celebration and hugged Molly, I realized I wasn't freezing anymore. WE DID IT.

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