Small Actions, Unexpected Results

(Popcorn taking a nap)

It’s nasty outside.  The rain has been coming down since last night and, according to all weather reports, it will continue through this evening.  We are lucky that it is not snow, after all, it’s January, but the cold chilly dampness is seeping into everything.  As I am sitting here typing I have a throw blanket across my legs.  The house just won’t warm up.  There are snow showers predicted for this weekend and that reality makes me feel extremely thankful we enjoyed the wonderful weather we did last weekend for my nephew’s wedding.

I am scheduled to be at work much later than normal today due to inventory.  Because of this, I have the day to accomplish things around the house and relax with my daughter.  I am looking forward to spending the day this way and am very happy I don’t have to go out in this rain yet.   

Life definitely has its ups and downs.  When I think about all the things that have happened that have brought me to this point in my life, I am amazed at how unexpected results have emerged out of the most insignificant seeming decisions.  For one tiny example, I look at my dog, Popcorn.  I always had a Maltese from the time I was small.  I love the look, the actions, the cuddles and the happiness a little Maltese offers.  When I was first married, before my husband and I had children, we bought a cute little mutt, a yorkie/poodle mixture that was adorable.  Pumpkin was a happy dog and she lived a good life until the very end.  She was loved. 

It just so happens that when Pumpkin passed away, I had become very good friends with a lovely woman, Beth, who I met at the swim club, a club we only belonged to for a short time before building our own pool.  Our fast growing relationship brought lots of smiles, although the friendship only remained close for that one summer, that one brief moment in time.  All things considered, that timing was perfect.  Beth happened to own a Maltese dog that had just given birth to a litter of puppies.  Amazing.  Whoever would have thought joining a swim club would have brought our family to buying a dog?!

My husband and I had decided, after Pumpkin was no longer with us, that we would take a little break before purchasing another dog.  What is it they say about best-made plans? 

One day at the pool, Beth mentioned that she still had some puppies that she needed to find homes for, Maltese PUPPIES!!  I mentioned it to my husband and he was not completely against going to see the puppies.  I knew it was a done deal.

The four of us, my daughter, son, husband and myself got in the car and took the five-minute drive to see the puppies.  If you’ve never seen seven adorable, fluffy white balls of fur playing happily, you’ve definitely missed something special.  The puppies were mostly placed in a baby’s playpen for their own safety since they were so small.  We had absolute visions of only considering a female dog, since that was the only dog my husband and I had ever enjoyed.  We often heard horror stories of male dogs going to the bathroom on everything in the house…every sofa leg, every chair, everything!

There was one female puppy still available.  She was so cute, sitting quietly on the soft, cushiony pillow covered with pictures of dog bones.  Pictures that appeared bigger than she was!  We tried to play with her, but she wasn’t interested.  Meanwhile, a male puppy, Mr. Piggy was his name at the time, kept coming over to us. He was happy, jumpy, just too cute for words, but we kept pushing him away trying to get the female Maltese to look our way.

After about twenty minutes, Mr. Piggy kept coming at us.  I thought he was going to put on a top hat and dance with a cane trying to gain our attention.  I remember looking at my children and husband and it was as if a light bulb went off in all our heads at that same time.  Mr. Piggy it was.  HE was the puppy we were meant to adopt.

It is now fourteen years later.  Fourteen years that Popcorn, alias Mr. Piggy, has been a star member of our family.  After that summer, so many years ago, Beth and my friendship was sidetracked by life taking us in opposite directions.  Although I will always think of her fondly, for whatever reason, we were only ‘friends’ that one summer.  Fate?  Perhaps.  But, isn’t that how life works?

Had Pumpkin not passed away at that particular time, had I not known Beth at that same time, had we never joined the swim club, none of this would have happened.  Popcorn would have lived with another family and who knows if we ever would have purchased another dog?  How different would my children’s’ lives have been without such a good friend always close at hand?

I suppose all this is just to say that we never know what is in the works, what one small decision such as picking a particular table at a swim club could lead toward.  We will never know how one set of unrelated circumstances will lead us to a new, happy, previously unplanned outcome. 

Life is in motion, constant, unrelenting, motion.  As the saying goes, go with the flow…anything else is just a waste of energy and a source of frustration and aggravation.  Where we are now is where we are supposed to be, and the smallest of coincidences can lead to great results if we are just open to them.

So, be open to where life takes you today and make it a happy day!