Tuesday, September 01, 2015

Gratitudes for small successes--or maybe not so small



Today was a different kind of day. That pesky “Check Engine” light on my car had been staring at me for a week, so I finally decided it wouldn’t go away by itself and took the car in. My local car repair shop couldn’t do anything, because the VW people have the computers and equipment to check, and of course they found several niggly naggly things—a purge clamp which necessitated resetting the engine, a headlight out with the harness also burnt out, and torn air pump mounts, whatever that means.

In the meantime I drove home in a 2015 4-door Volvo—lovely and comfortable, and I could probably get very used to it. But I couldn’t change the FM station (it was on a sports station) and when I got back in it, I couldn’t figure out how to increase the a/c fan. I was glad to get back into my bug late this afternoon, even if those niggly naggly things cost over $800. Yikes!

Jacob and I came home from one excitement to another—we went to interview a dog. Years ago my friend Gayla in College Station wanted a dog, and I knew of a collie that needed a home. She asked me to interview the dog—how do you do that? She came up, got the dog, and it was a love match made in heaven. Then Gayla’s neighbor died and she took in Jake, a collie/Aussie mix, who was equally beautiful, loved, and sweet. She lost Eppi a couple of years ago and Jake in May and is finally ready for a dog.

Serendipity: on the neighborhood email this morning, a family was reluctantly giving up their dog because he growled at their infant. He is otherwise the perfect dog—trained, sweet, up to date on shots and flea and tick medication, neutered, comes complete with crate and toys. Jacob, Jay and I went to visit this afternoon and fell in love with him—absolutely a sweetheart. Upshot of all this is Gayla will come tomorrow afternoon and hope to spend some time with Uno (so named because one ear flops and the other stands straight up), then we’ll go to supper, and Thursday morning she’ll take Uno back to College Station. I love stories that work out this way.

Dinner at the Old Neighborhood Grill with neighbors was almost anticlimactic, except Jacob forswore the grilled cheese for the first time ever in favor of a cheese quesadilla.

I read somewhere that having a positive attitude relies on gratitude, and we should practice a month of gratitude for the little things in our lives. I may try it—no I won’t burden you with each gratitude—but tonight I’m grateful for the story of Uno.

 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If a dog growls at a kid, the dog in essence is saying, hey, watch out, you are aggravating me (that's good right?) I understand that when a dog bites a kid without warning is when you have a problem. I'm wrong about this?

judyalter said...

I'm no expert but that sounds right to me. The dog had no problem with the baby until he started to crawl and then a critter in his space alarmed him I think it was fright more than aggravation. Also the baby has one of those Styrofoam helmets and that may have scared the dog. But hard as it was for the family to give up the baby, it's best. They were constantly on the alert.
As for growling, yes it's a good message but a crawling baby doesn't get it.