Everything Happens For a Reason

I was telling my Grandma about my week this morning and was AMAZED at the easy flow everything took on and thought I'd share :)

Sunday, I went to my local APL (Animal Protective League/Humane Society) and adopted a dog. I've been wanting a small beagle and decided to "allow" one to come into my life. I woke up Sunday morning and realized the date was 1-11 and it was a full moon and I felt drawn to the APL so I went. There... in cage #11 was the cutest 4 yr old male beagle named Copper (This was the name of a dog we USED to have). He was exactly what I wanted. Older, so no puppy issues like peeing and chewing... fixed.. not jumpy or licky.. calm, pleasant and affectionate. I took these facts ALL as signs and adopted him and brought him home.

After he was here about an hour, I took him outside to do his business and he slipped his leash and ran due west at break neck speed. I ended up trudging through knee deep snow in sigle digit temps for over an hour looking for him. Then I drove around my "Country" neighborhood for an hour looking for him. He was nowhere to be found. I was SOOOO bummed, but I said a prayer for him to be healthy and happy and safe and went home.

Monday, my 6 year old son was sick. He went to school but came home that night with a low fever and looking mighty pale. My boy has a history of hallucinating when he's sick. This is somewhat common among young children and the doctor assures me it will pass with age. But, in the meantime, it can be quite un-nerving for me to console a frightened, hallucinating child.
He was fevered and ill and home from school Tuesday, Wednesday AND Thursday. Wednesday night he spiked a fever of 103 degrees and I gave him a dose of ibuprophen to bring it down. One hour later, it had not only NOT gone down, but had climbed to 104.3. In a bit of a panic, at 10:30pm, we got in the van and went to the emergency room.

They chased the ibuprophen with some Tylenol and his temp came down quickly and he perked up. They ran some tests and did a chest x-ray and concluded that he just has a flu virus and it will pass in a few days. We got back home at 2am.

I put him in bed and layed awake for hours visualizing a cool healing blue energy surrounding him. He woke up Thursday morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. No sign of fever at all. He still has a little cough, but for the most part, he's made an amazingly fast recovery.

He wanted to go to school Thursday, but I told him he needed to stay home and rest and get a little more healthy before going back. He accepted this, but asked if we could go see about getting another dog. I've called the APL everyday since Copper left and no one has brought him back. I alerted all my neighbors so if he was spotted, someone would grab him and know where he belongs, but it'd been 4 days and I'd given up hope. So... we went back to the APL to see about getting a different dog.

We found a very nice dog and decided to adopt. He wasn't a beagle like I'd wanted, but he was very sweet and calm and my son liked him. The woman there had me fill out the adoption paper, then told me that due to what had just happened with Copper, they weren't going to ALLOW me to bring this dog home. She said she'd hold him for 24 hours and I should go home and make sure this is what I really wanted. They treated me as though I was a bad person because of what had happened and as though it were my fault.

I felt humiliated and angry. All I wanted was to rescue and love a dog and they were gunna point fingers at me because the dog I got ran away?! They were the one's that named him when he came in so he didn't even respond to his name when I called to him! What was I supposed to have done!? So I left.

I came home mad. I stewed for a while and bitched about it. Then I let it go. I decided.... well, they don't know me... and I'm not going to let their stupid judgement of me keep me from having a dog. We went about our normal evening business of dinner and homework and tv. My Hubby got called out to tow a car and left. He came home about 2 hours later.. walked through the door and said, "Look who I found!" and set Copper on the floor!

As he was pulling in the driveway, the son of one of our neightbors pulled up in a car and said, "Are you the guy missing a beagle?" He had him there in his car and gave him back.

I was recounting these events to my Gram and I really started thinking about it all. It would've been REALLY difficult for me to take care of a new dog while tending my sick child all week.
New dogs need extra attention and walks etc.. and I just wouldn't have been able to do it. THEN I realized.... if the APL hadn't made me wait 24 hours, I'd have ended up with 2 dogs here last night. THEN I'd have had to take one of them back to the APL today which would've just broke my heart.

I think it's even made a difference for Copper, who's name has been changed to Charlie, because he was out and cold and hungry for FOUR whole days. Now he's here and we're loving on him and feeding him and he's warm again. He seems to already be attached to us now when before, he didn't seem to care much. And finally, I'm right up against lake Erie in NE Ohio. We're having a MAJOR cold spell as of last night. It got all the way down to - 10 last night with windchills down to -40. He couldn't have come home out of the cold at a better time.

It all worked out in the most perfect way even though I couldn't see the perfection of it from the beginning. I managed to have faith through it all that everything was exactly as it should be and would work out fine and I'm happy to report that it did.

I know some people around here have a hard time believing that "bad" things happen and end up being a good thing in the end... and although this might not be a HUGE life altering thing, it was important to me and my family... and now, I'm finding myself not only grateful that my son is better and my dog is home... but grateful that everything happened exacly as it did. It was perfectly orchistrated to turn out in a way that was best for everyone involved.

Deepak Chopra: The Happiness Prescription

See at Amazon!
I ordered this movie (seminar, talk..) from Netflix like, a week or so ago. I've been meaning to watch it, but life just gets away with me sometimes. I've had a sick boy home from school all week this week and that brings life to a screeching halt. Yesterday, while he was napping peacefully (FINALLY!), I remembered I had that DVD to watch, so I hunkered down on the couch and let 'er rip.

What a wonderful DVD! It's a 2 disc set, and I only have disc 1, so I'm sending away for the other half today, but I'm so glad I finally sat down to watch it.

It can be frustrating for me at times, to find LOA and Spirituality related things to watch and read that aren't the same old stuff I've already watched and read. Although, I would have to admit, some of the biggest and most profound shifts in consciousness I've experienced came from hearing things I've heard a billion times already. Sometimes I'm aware of things on an intellectual basis but then I hear it again one day and it just resonates deeper for me. I've had some pretty spectacular "Ah-Ha!" moments from things that are painfully obvious. It just hits me different. But, it's like that old saying.... When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. When you are primed and ready for the shift, it'll happen.

I really enjoyed this DVD. I love listening to Deepak talk. I enjoy the audio books that he narrarates too. In this DVD, he's giving a seminar type talk to a smallish audience. Then at the end, there's a question and answer portion. Some of it was the same ol' info, but some of it was very deep. I had a couple "Ah-Ha!" moments while I was watching. He talks about what happiness really means and how to acheive it. It was truly fantastic.

It seemed to conclude at the end, so I'm very curious what's on the second disc. I'll post and let you all know when it gets here. I won't put off watching the second disc as long as I did this one! LOL I'm REALLY looking forward to watching it.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

A friend of mine told me today that she's thinking of leaving her husband. She also told me that she's in love with someone else. The someone else isn't an "affair". They've openly been friends for about 6 months now and their feelings developed in response to both of them being immensely unhappy in their marriages and sympathizing with eachother. He's actively mistreated by his wife and she's been taken for granted by her husband and ignored for YEARS. Not quietly either. She's been telling him how unhappy she is for going on 6 years now, so when she confessed having feelings for another man, her husband wasn't surprised.

We had lunch together today and she dropped the bomb and told me everything. When she'd finished summing up this little bit of drama, she sighed and said, "I just don't know what to do. I'm so confused."

Happiness is a fickle creature. Or is it? Sometimes, we do what we think we should, even when that's not what we truely want. How often do you do things you don't want to, simply because you know someone will be mad at you or disappointed in you if you don't. For most people. it's all the time. Too many people stay in unhappy relationships because they're worried about what everyone will think if they leave.

I was married at 18. It was a collosal mistake of gargantuan perportions. Of course, in retrospect, had I not been there and done that, I'd have not been where I was when I met the love of my life. The life I happily live now hinged right off of the life I had and didn't want. It took one to make the other. It's this reasoning that makes me happy to have been everywhere I've been in my past. No regrets. Every road I took lead me here.

Anyway, when I left my husband, I lost my best friend of 10 years. He ran to her and gave her a sob story and because I'd always put on a happy face, she didn't even realize how unhappy our marriage was. My mother was also mad at me. "Marriage is forever!" she said. To this day I find it mildly disturbing that my own mother wanted me to remain miserable. The point is, no one was living my life. No one felt what I felt and thought what I thought. How could ANYONE presume they understood MY marriage? And that's what I told my friend today.

I've never liked her husband. It's really no secret either. He and I have always agreed to disagree and just stayed away from eachother. My feelings, however, are irrelevant. I told her that she deserves to be happy, no matter what that means. Everyone will think what they'll think... but do you really care so much that you're willing to be unhappy forever for THEM? I told her that she should stay and make it work if that's what she wants. She should leave if that's what she wants. What does he want? Who cares. What's her mother want? Who cares. You only get one shot at this life... and it's happening NOW. Don't cheat. Don't create trust issues because that will complicate everything, but be happy. Besides, just because you separate now doesn't mean you won't be together again. You don't know where this life is leading you, but if you stay stuck in an unhappy rut, how can you ever find out how happy you could be?

I believe in marriage. Not in the religious sense, because I don't believe in religion, but in the commitment. I love being married to my husband. We are committed to eachother. We support eachother and love eachother. If we were any closer, we'd be one person. Just the other day he came walking into the dining room in a stained work shirt. I couldn't tell if it was stained or dirty and I thought to myself, "I wonder if that's a dirty shirt? I wonder if it smells?" LOL. I no sooned completed that thought and he lifted the bottom up to his nose and sniffed it, then smiled coyly at me and said, "It's just stained."

That's the kind of connection we have. How good would that connection be if only one of us was comitted? Not very! It takes two to be comitted to a connection to make the connection complete. If one person is unhappy and the connection is incomplete, then what's the point?

I'm rambling, I know. :) My point is, be happy. It's your life and your feelings and your happiness. You choose. If you sit and look around at your life and don't like what you see, only you can change it. And if you're not moving in a direction that makes you feel good, then you need to rethink your travels. Sometimes drastic measures need to be taken and sometimes simple alterations make a world of difference. But it's up to you.