To me, trust is unspoken. It's a feeling. Sometimes it's earned, other times it's assumed until something happens to break that trust. It's like love. You're born into a family and the love is assumed. But you learn to love non-family as you get to know them. Somehow, the trust between Ginny & us was natural. Nothing was done to earn it, except maybe the promise to take care of Maggie. It was never questioned, either way. Neither one of us ever questioned whether we'd watch out for each other, each other's houses, and each other's families; it was just natural.
I can't say for 100% certain, but I really think that the first time I went into Ginny's house was to check on Maggie and I was by myself. I remember the first time I walked into her house and the feeling of amazement at how nice, "magazine"-perfect her decor seemed to be. I just figured she was a "bachelorette" with a busy lifestyle and this was where she landed when she was in town, but she really created a beautiful, warm & welcoming home. I was a mom living in suburbia working from home and my house never looked so good! She even had dining room furniture...we still don't!
Anyway, like I said, I think she literally handed me a key the first day she left Maggie to go to work and trusted me to go into her house, take care of her dog, and lock up when I left. Can you imagine? Yes, we lived next door to each other so she could certainly find me if something went missing, but talk about entrusting me with everything that's valuable to her!
And so it went...I'd got into her house a few times a day to let Maggie out of her crate, let her outside, play with her in the house, then do it all again in a few hours. As time went on Maggie graduated from the crate to a section of her kitchen, to the whole kitchen, to the downstairs, and finally to full reign of the house.
If Ginny was running late at work, she knew all she had to do was text me and we'd check on Maggie some more. I would check out the front door every couple of hours to see if Ginny was home from work yet and if she wasn't we'd go check on the Moo.
The trust went both ways. When Maggie started spending her days at our house, we gave Ginny a key to our house. If she got home and it didn't appear like anyone was at our house, she'd let herself in and get the dogs.
I knew best that Ginny trusted us when she'd be on the road. She'd go a day or two without checking in, because she knew the girls were well taken care of. But I could tell when she was ready to come home because she'd check in to see how her girls were doing. Of course, I'd shoot her pictures or text her stories whenever there was something cute or monumental to share.
Her last act of trust in us was on her last day. I saw Ginny on Wednesday. She told me that she & the girls were going to Philly for Mother's Day weekend and would leave on Friday. Pierce saw her on Thursday and thanked him again for mowing her lawn while she was away the previous weekend. Nothing was mentioned about the hot air balloon ride to either of us.
When I left for work that Friday morning, I looked toward her house like I always did (and still do), saw that her car was gone and figured they'd hit the road for Philly already. It wasn't until after work when I got on social media that I learned she was at the hot air balloon festival. She was supposed to go up in the balloon early that morning and they postponed it until the evening. As best as I can tell, she never came home that day. Her family has learned that she went to work.
Ginny would have typically texted me to let me know she had gotten up especially early, which meant that the girls were fed early. She would have typically texted me to let me know she'd be gone so long. But it appears that she was so distracted by the excitement and perhaps anxious about the adventure that she never reached out to me. She knew she could trust me to take care of the girls while she was away from home and didn't give it a second thought. I wish I could take care of them for her forever.
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