A friend was cleaning out her photos and sent this one to me that she had taken of Frankie. My heart fluttered with love for my sweet girl. So many wonderful emotions flooded my heart when I looked at her.
It seemed fitting to get this photo yesterday because of a quote I couldn’t get out of my head yesterday afternoon. Though there is much controversy as to the exact quote of “Life happens while you are busy making other plans” and who said it, I think you get the idea of its meaning. But it came up because of a talk I was having with a friend who is trying to understand some things in her life right now.
I also can’t help but think of it as I get ready to share my story with the world in February. The past ten years of my life and how they unfolded were not part of my plans. But looking back now, I wouldn’t trade one moment of it. Though there were some very painful times- like losing my chocolate Lab Cassie, as well as Frankie becoming paralyzed, and then passing away in June, those moments have been pivotal for me. None of it did I plan. But they would become huge lessons for me, as well as what I needed to push me forward in my self growth and spirituality.
When Frankie became paralyzed, I remember questioning why this was happening- why me? It was not what I had laid out for my life for the next ten years. I was faced with a choice I had not planned, but none-the-less, I had a choice. And the only choice that mattered at that space in time that seemed to span out eons, was Frankie’s well being.
Reflecting back I see now that this all had to be part of my life plan– I had some things I needed to discover about myself– accept about myself. God (spirit, universe, high power- whatever you choose to call it), was hitting me over the head saying there were some lessons I needed to learn to discover that being me was perfectly fine to be. That high power chose animals for me to learn those lessons.
I didn’t in anyway, shape or form, want to lose Frankie– though I knew it was inevitable– life happens and we can’t always plan for it. So as that was presented to me, I had to consciously make a choice to take in all those last sweet moments with her. Give blessed thanks for the road we traveled and say thanks for the divine timing and plan of it all. And I see now as I move into a new chapter of my life that it indeed was part of a bigger plan and I am exactly right where I need to be at this moment. Frankie knew that and she knew exactly when it was right for her to continue on her own journey– she had done her work, her life plan played out beautifully– and she knew I’d continue on my way just fine.
So while “Life happens while you are busy making other plans” I think it’s a good reminder to know this is how it is going to be. To stop in that moment of something that is “unplanned” and give thanks for the lessons or new road it is about to reveal. Not always easy, I agree, but again, a reminder to try and move through the unexpected as best we can.