Magic in Attitude

Sometimes life just sucks. Our intentions are good, we are going about life as best we can and, to put it bluntly, "shit happens"!

Yesterday was one of those days.

My daughter was down from Michigan for the day ... I only get to see her a couple of times a year and so it was a special occasion. We were getting ready for a day of fun at the zoo and visiting dog bakeries. Nothing extravagant or terribly exciting ... but fun with someone you care about.

Sipping our morning coffee (Green Mountain Breakfast Blend) we chatted about life in general ... when ... scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch ... Moira (my Scottish Terrier) was gnawing her toes again and scratching at her ear.

GROAN! What now? Laura looked down and saw red ... angry red welts and small drops of blood. Moira's ear was seeping.

We hefted her up; no mean feat for a 40 lb Scotty; and looked in her ear. It was black with clogged blood.

Many "fits" and black & blue marks later, we had cleaned out Moira's ear with hydrogen peroxide, Q-tips and a towel. Step One of at least a 10 day ritual.

You see, my neighbor breeds Doberman's ... they are beautiful dogs, of good character and well trained ... but the bitches are kept outside ... and the kennels are lined up against my fence.

Which means that the neighbor washes out the kennels every day and washes all of the sludge (a nice way of saying watery shit and garbage) right under the fence into my yard ... where my dogs sniff and are constantly exposed to it.

I am disabled and live on disability so can not afford to do anything to change the flow of the sludge ... and now my "Scotty" was sick.

I am appalled that someone would simply wash their sludge into someone else’s yard and poison their grass and animals ... but it happens daily and I can not remedy it.

But that was only the beginning of the day.

After the zoo we went to Yatz for a wonderful lunch and then on to dog bakeries. That was when the accident happened.

Yes, it was my fault. It was truly an accident. I had my wheelchair on the lift on the back of my Blazer and was blocked in a parking lot by another car that would not let me through.

I attempted to "back up" and hit a post ... resulting in a huge crashing noise and a horrible crunching feeling. That was my sprit falling through the floor!

The lift was two inches from the ground on one side and horribly twisted on the other side. The bolts holding the lift in place were shorn off and had fallen through to the ground.

All I could see in front of me was the $ signs that repairing or replacing the lift would cost ... possibly thousands of dollars ... and how was I going to get my wheelchair home?

By this time, I was sick to my stomach, shaking and ready to explode at someone ... almost anyone ... in anger ... I wanted to find someone to "blame". But I knew that I was the one who had backed into the post and I needed to "woman up" and simply deal with the situation.

So I breathed deeply, grounded myself into the earth ... calmed myself and began to "deal" with the situation.

I tried driving with the chair on the back and the lift kept "bottoming out". That would simply not work. It scraped and dragged the pavement in the parking lot while I was trying to drive around.

Then I remembered that a friend of mine owned a shop a few blocks away from where we were ... so I called her and she said I could leave my wheelchair there until I got the lift fixed.

It was a generous offer of my friend as we had a "falling out" ... mostly a misunderstanding a couple of years ago ... and nothing had gone well between us since then. Perhaps there was much "magic" at work here ... perhaps this was the method the "universe" was using to mend our relationship...

I drove the chair the half mile to her shop and my daughter drove the Blazer (which was alright, it was only the lift that was bent up).

My friend was gracious, hugged me as she knew I was stressed and as we chatted she shared some suggestions about what to do about my neighbor ... you see, the neighbor's wife works for the Department of Health and complaints just don't get processed ... my friends husband is a police officer and may have suggestions of how to get around this blockage and return my yard and animals to health!

My daughter and I returned home ... another friend came over and helped us give the Scotty's ears a good cleaning and left me with a liquid to clean out the ears for the next 10 days or so.

Next morning my daughter left for home and I drove off to see what the damages were for the wheelchair life. The repairs will cost me about $700 but it can be repaired.
Fortunately Moira seems to be improving with medication and a cone on her head ... she hates it but it must happen if she is to heal without continuing to tear up her ear.

My point here is that I could have let these incidents ruin my day, my daughter's visit, or the entire weekend; I could let them ruin my life living in my neighborhood; hating my neighbors or carrying anger as my constant companion ... but I CHOOSE not to. I choose to calm myself and to deal with the situation rather than to let my temper fly away with me. It has been a long battle between me and my natural (red haired Irish lass) temperament.

And that IS magic. Not the "twitch your nose" type of magic, but the kind that changes lives for the good. The kind that takes years to practice and implement ... one day at a time, one attitude at a time.

I am not sure where the money will come from to repair the lift ... but I do know it will come ... it always does ... not because I can earn it ... but because I choose to fling my magic wide into the universe ... and let it return to me in its own kind.

And if you think that is not truly magic, then talk to an angry person ... see how much they enjoy life ... note if they are surrounded by friends ... and, if you are capable, try to feel their energy ... is that what you would choose for yourself?

I think not ... come and practice magic with me ... it will transform your life ... it has mine!