One Never Knows, Do One?
Monday, December 19, 2011 at 03:58PM So while I was heading to the store the other evening, I ran into a neighbor who was walking his three dogs. He told me sad news, that the 15-year-old pooch had a fatal health condition and probably wouldn't be around for long. And then, while we were commiserating, he said something that really stuck with me:"This dog changed my life."
The cynic in me automatically thought, "really, how's that possible?"
But after he told me the story, I understood. It seems that, pre-dog, he was a "man about town" who barely came home to sleep. But one day he found a forlorn puppy wandering on a nearby street, took pity on him, drove the him to the pound, and went on his way. About a week later, he called the shelter to make sure the dog had been adopted, only to learn that he had not and, in fact, was scheduled to be put to sleep that very day. He asked them to hold up the execution, rushed over to the facility and adopted the dog, whom he named "Larry." Without planning to, he suddenly became a canine "Dad," a duty that called for him to become less of a gadabout and more of a responsible caretaker. In his new role, he walked his rambunctious mutt to a nearby dog park every day, which helped him to become friendly with neighbors whom he had barely even noticed before, including an old college buddy who had lived on his same block for eight years. One dog led to lots of new friends (and eventually to two additional dogs) and certainly a new way of life for him.
In that same "fate" note, I met my hubby one weekend when some friends extended a last-minute invitation to visit them at the seashore. We had a great day at the beach and a fun dinner party at their house, and I assumed that we were done for the night. But then someone suggested that we head to a club and before I knew it, I was chatting with a stranger and the rest is romantic history. (Except, of course, for the days when we momentarily want to strangle each other...)
Now, I'm not saying that the evening I met my beloved was the only time I ever hung out at a nightclub. Nor am I saying that every stray dog wandering on the street is magically going to revolutionize your life - ya have to kiss a lot of frogs and pick off a bunch of fleas first - but you just never know.
The point is that we can plan our lives to our little heart's content, but those blueprints are probably going to get discombobulated anyway.
So this holiday season, if you plan to have a lovely, relaxing, joyous celebration with your family, don't flip your mistletoe if it doesn't exactly turn out that way.
Smile, send good vibes out to loyal old Larry, have yourself a Merry little Christmas and I'll talk with you in 2012.
Reader Comments (2)
Lovely! As Doris Day said so eloquently "que sera sera, whatever will be, will be..."
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