Red and blue flashing lights reflected off of the rear-view mirror of Cathy Zabel’s red 365 horsepower Ford Taurus super high output.

She felt anxious as the state trooper walked up to her window to request her license, registration and proof of insurance.

She had been driving a little too fast to her weight-loss meeting.

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“His ticket printer wasn’t working, so he gave me a warning, and I knew I’d been spared from the ticket I deserved,” Zabel said. “You know when you’ve been extended mercy, and I’ve since been very cautious of my driving speed because of that mercy.”

That’s just one of the stories Zabel shares in her first published book, “Seasons with Mitch: Lessons Learned Along the Way.” The book is a collection of devotions from nature walks with the author’s poodle, Mitch.

Zabel said she has learned many lessons through both Mitch and her car. She believes it’s due to the countless hours she has spent with both.

Two years ago, she was inspired to write a devotional based on those learned lessons.

Another one of the stories is about the night Zabel thought Mitch had been dognapped, but all ended well, and she found him sitting on the front stoop.

“I must say that Mitch was my muse in writing these messages that I feel were received as a gift from God,” Zabel said. “I would post these writings on Facebook after my walks in nature with Mitch, and my friends, especially my ladies Bible study group, kept telling me that I needed to write a book.”

Zabel said it was Betty Gray, her leader in Bible study at the time at Seymour Christian Church, who really confirmed for her that she was to write the book.

“I will always be grateful to her,” Zabel said. “I had been writing poetry for some time, but this was my first attempt to write a book, and I plan to write more.”

Zabel said after the book was done and the publishers first showed her the book cover, there was no dog on it, so she immediately asked them if Mitch could be on the cover of the book. They agreed.

“A very good friend of mine I went to college with, Donna Wilkins, is a doctor up in Muncie, and I told her I was doing a book,” Zabel said. “She’s a photographer on the side, so she gave me pictures to use for the book.”

My Man Mitch was Mitch’s official name, and he started out living with Zabel’s daughter, Melissa Collins of Seymour, who was working for the Mitch Daniels administration at the time and had purchased the standard poodle for her two daughters, Laney and Piper.

“Due to driving back and forth to Indy for work each day, Mitch was spending an inordinate amount of time in a crate, which broke my heart,” Zabel said. “I worked out a deal to ‘rescue’ Mitch, and then he came to live at my house.”

She said it worked out well for everyone, and Mitch had a wonderful life with her late husband, Tom Zabel, who passed away in 2008. The two would go everywhere together in the Ford Explorer truck.

“Mitch was a therapy dog, and Tom had trained him,” Zabel said. “He had taken him to Therapy Dogs International, where he had to qualify, and he passed on the first test.”

Zabel said Mitch and Tom visited area nursing homes so the residents could enjoy spending time with the poodle, and he also visited schoolchildren.

“For a new reading program at Brownstown Elementary, the kids got to choose their reward, and one of the choices was getting to read a story to Mitch,” Zabel said. “He was a nice, calm dog and he would sit still and listen to the kids read.”

Zabel recalls how she met her husband where they both grew up in Brownstown. She always knew who he was, but Tom was six years older than her, so they never really socialized in school.

“After school, I had worked at my father’s appliance store on Main Street in Brownstown, and Tom worked just down the street at Zabel’s Furniture Store,” Zabel said. “He started coming in my dad’s store and just hanging around and talking to me.”

Zabel was working part time for the U.S. Forest Service, and one of the rangers had a Christmas party, and she invited Tom to go to with her.

“He was kind of shy, so I took the plunge and invited him when back in the day it was unusual for the woman to take the initiative,” Zabel said. “That was December of 1970, and following that party, we were together from then on and got married the following August.”

They almost made it to their 37th anniversary when Tom died unexpectedly. Zabel said Mitch was left in the prime of his life by the man who he had spent so much time with and admits that was one of the hardest years she has ever endured.

“Besides losing my husband that year, I also had back surgery, I lost my job, I broke both my ankle and foot and I wondered if anything else could happen,” Zabel said. “It was my faith, my family and Mitch that kept me going. I had Mitch with me for 12 years and used to take him on many walks out by the forestry.”

Zabel said Mitch loved the woods and being able to walk in the forestry or sometimes they would take walks around town.

“Whenever we would get back home, I would have a story in my head about where we had been and what I’d seen,” Zabel said. “There would always be a message that would come out of it.”

Sadly, Mitch was struck with a blood disorder called immune-mediated thrombocytopenia and died October 14, 2017, at the age of 12.

Zabel still lives in the home she and Tom built in 1983, and they did most of the work themselves.

Currently, she does crisis consulting in the emergency department at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing and Bible study.

“I am especially enjoying doing a newsletter for Double Down Outreach, so I guess I am considering that as sort of a hobby,” Zabel said.

She said when it’s her night to volunteer at Double Down, she and the other volunteers set up outside next to Sunshine Cafe in the parking lot.

“We serve food and hand out resources and shampoos and things that somebody might need if they’re having a hard time,” she said. “I am constantly being excited and challenged by serving this ministry on the ground floor as I literally watch it take shape and grow in front of my eyes.”

“Seasons with Mitch” is available for purchase online through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Faith Gateway. Locally, it can be purchased at the Schneck Medical Center gift shop, the Jackson County Visitor Center in Seymour and Ark Book and Gift in Columbus.

“My hopes for ‘Seasons with Mitch’ is that I want the writing to be a blessing to somebody, and I prayed for that as I wrote it,” Zabel said. “So when anyone tells me my book is a blessing to them, I thank God for that answer to prayer.”

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"I must say that Mitch was my muse in writing these messages that I feel I received as a gift from God."

Cathy Zabel of Brownstown on her first published book

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Name: Catherine Lockman Zabel

Age:70

Residence: Born and raised in Brownstown

Education: 1967 graduate of Brownstown Central High School; attended Hanover College and has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Purdue University and a master’s degree in social work from Indiana University in Columbus and Indianapolis

Children: Melissa (Jeff) Collins of Seymour works for Sen. Todd Young and used to work for the Mitch Daniels administration; Adam (Joni) Zabel of Brownstown is employed at American Axle and Manufacturing in Walesboro

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