Somebody Up There Likes Me
I’m not always an “everything happens for a reason” kind of person, but lately, it definitely feels like the universe has been leaving me a more obvious-than-usual trail of breadcrumbs.
This goes back a few years, after the deaths of two of my beloved dogs, one right after the other. My third dog, Ace, was clearly grieving and lonely, so I went on the hunt for a friend for him. In particular, I was looking for a Coton de Tulear because I had recently fallen in love with the breed. Unfortunately, they’re hard to find.
I could only find two breeders in the whole country with available puppies, so I contacted them both and had to submit detailed applications about myself, my family, my prior dogs and then some. If you have ever gone through the process of trying to buy a dog from a breeder you will sympathize that this is not an easy or fast process (nor should it be I suspect). After multiple follow up phone calls and emails, I was ready to push the button to wire transfer funds to Arizona and fly the only available Coton puppy in the country to DFW airport for me to pick up. But right before I did that the second breeder got back to me, told me she had a 6 month old puppy that she was not going to sell but was now considering it so interviewed me for over 2 hours on the phone and then when I passed that, she insisted on meeting me before she would allow me to adopt the remaining puppy.
“OK, then,” I said. “Where are you?” I assumed she would tell me California or Tennessee or somewhere at least a flight away, but it turns out she was only two miles from my house.
I immediately made an appointment to meet her, and the rest is history:
Cut to a few years later, my mother had just passed away and my divorce had just been finalized. I was having, to say the least, a bad month. There were some other conflicts going on at the time as well, so I wasn’t on my game. Which is why when a friend texted to tell me a friend of his – a handsome, single man from Denver – had moved to town and he wanted to meet me for a drink, rather than throw up my usual wall, I said yes. To a blind date. Something I never do.
That one turned out well too:
On the less fun side, a few weeks ago, I had several early meetings scheduled on one day, meaning that by 10:30 a.m., I had taken care of the most urgent items on my to-do list for the day. I was starting to feel weird, so I went home to change into something more comfortable and see if I could snap out of it.
When I started to feel worse, I called my doctor, who said I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. I was in the hospital by Noon and in emergency appendectomy surgery by that evening. No rupture, no complications, and I was back in the game by the next day.
Had I not ticked off most of my to-do list by 10:30 am., I might have forced myself to power through the day, eventually getting so sick that my appendix would have ruptured and I’d still be recovering. (PSA: if you’re feeling abdominal pain, especially in the lower right-hand side, and you start feeling nauseous and/or develop a fever, get to the hospital. Now.)
Most recently, I had an important professional decision to make and there were equally compelling items on the pro and con lists for each option. I was still mulling it over and no closer to a decision when I ended up on a flight sitting next to a stranger who, it turns out, had to make the same decision a few years earlier. He explained why he made the decision he did and how, for him, it turned out to be the best one. I got off the plane knowing what to do – all because of a chance encounter with a stranger.
I can’t explain the long list of happy coincidences I’ve been experiencing (there are more than this). Am I simply being more mindful and receptive of what’s going on around me and better able to connect the dots that might have eluded me when I wasn’t in as good a place? Am I just looking more for the good than the bad around me? Or is there someone up there showing me the way? All are possibilities and all may be true.
Whatever the reason, I do know that these chance encounters have fueled my faith in my fellow man (and woman) and convinced me that, more than ever, the universe is on my side.
I bet it’s on your side too. You just have to connect the dots…