Dogalysts

©2013 Joan M Newcomb

Every once in a while, we'll be driving down the highway of life and something will change our direction.  Sometimes it's subtle, but often it's a major redirect from the way we were going.

Things will occur to "break the camel's back", so you make the change yourself, or circumstances will arise so the rerouting seems imposed upon you.  These course alterations may look like major disasters, but they almost always end up being something good.

When I was trying to move my mother to Seattle, interactions with people there convinced me that it would be an unstable situation.  They were the catalysts for not moving, but it followed shortly that my mother's cancer was progressing, so it ultimately turned out for the best that we stayed here.

My mother passed in January and it was my intention to fly back to Seattle with my husband and our dogs on March 2nd.  One of our dogs started having health problems and last week the Vet couldn't approve him to fly. So suddenly we're plotting a course to drive.  3,000 miles, across the country, in March.

It's a major rerouting and significant shift in our timing of events.

It opens an opportunity to leave a teensy portion of my mother's ashes in Ann Arbor, where she was born.  I'd asked the cremation company to give me a small box "for scattering purposes" while the rest was inurned in DC.  Years ago I'd suggested to her leaving some of her ashes in every place that she's lived and she (a geographer and world traveler) was tickled by the notion.  So now it's my self-appointed mission to leave a teaspoonful in six different countries and more than a dozen different addresses.  I'm going to have to get myself a passport!

No doubt there will be other reasons for this unexpected road trip.  Our vibration always contributes to where we are.  We are meant to encounter the people we meet.  Perhaps, after two years of camping out in DC taking care of my mother, I get to have a bit of a vacation before hitting the ground running in Seattle.

I'll probably do a blog.  "Adventures with Basil & Emma" (our dogs' names), or "Basil & Emma's Excellent Adventure".   Blog name suggestions welcome!

The main lesson here, I think, is to stay flexible.  Go with the flow, bend away from the punches, relax and take the next indicated step.

We can thank our catalysts (or in my case, dogalyst), for whether it's a layoff or a health crises, it's encourages us to expand and grow.  And that's always a good thing.