Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

The day before my wife left for London, we were out & about doing some last minute errands. We happened to pass a sign that we have probably passed 100 times recently without incident. It said..

PUPPIES FOR SALE

The sign was for a Pet Store in one of the local strip malls.  As my wife saw it, she yelled ‘Ooooooohhhhh, Puppies!  Babe, Let’s get one.’  I played along for a second trying to determine if she was serious.  I mean, we have three cats, a tight budget, and she was leaving for a week to go to another country tomorrow.  How the hell could we possibly get a dog?

‘Do you want one?’ She asked.

I smiled and started to fire off all of the rational reasons we should not get a dog.  Money, timing, planning….did I mention money?  I asked her if she was really serious.  My wife likes to live in the moment, and she has always desperately wanted a dog like the ones she grew up with. The issue I have is I live in a condo with no yard of my own. If I had a dog, I would want to have a yard.

Luckily, I was able to deter my wife from going to the store.  I said we could go in, but we could not get one.  She did not have the heart to go in and not take one home, so we headed back toward our house in silence. At the next light, out of the blue, my wife JERKS the wheel left, and does a full tire-SCREECHING u-turn with a fiery determination in her eyes.

‘I’m going to get one.  I don’t care what you say.  I have a Visa and you can’t stop me!‘

No way in hell I said. We can go look but we can’t get a dog.  The possibility was so ridiculous, that it was almost comical. I mean, there was no possible way we could get a dog right now. Everything about it was wrong. The timing was terrible.

My wife wanted one no matter what. She was brought up with Cairn Terriers so she has always had one.  They are gorgeous little dogs, made famous by one of the most well-known animal parts in movie history: Toto in ‘The Wizard of Oz‘.

My wife’s family currently owns two Cairn Terriers and they have had them for 3 generations. So I’m thinking as we pull up to the store, what are the chances they have a Cairn Terrier anyway? Not only that, but the dogs normally run in the range of $1200-$1500.  There was no way on Earth we could afford that right now.

I felt pretty confident the odds were well in my favor as we entered the store.

The dogs were all in the back in one giant hall-like, tiled room.  There must have been 40 or so different breeds of dogs separated by cages as we entered together.  I gave one quick glance around and turned to my wife only to realize she was gone. I look around, wondering where she could possibly have gone in a moment’s time, when I turn and spot her in the middle of all the dogs, holding one up.  It was a light colored, small dog.

‘This is the one I want.’ she declared.

What? It’s the first dog you went to and it’s not even a Cairn Terrier. I look on the cage to see what breed it is, and it clearly reads…

CAIRN TERRIER.

Strike one.

How the hell did she see that so quick in all these dogs, I wondered?

‘Oh my God, this looks just like my first dog Raisin.  She is so cute.  Come here baby, yes baby, give Mommy a kiss.’

Strike two.

In a pet store, this open affection is treated by employees like blood in the water is treated by sharks. I turned to look away and noticed I was surrounded by people in Red Shirts.

Red Shirt #1: “Isn’t she adorable, I love this dog.”

Red Shirt #2: “I’m so happy you like her.  Her sister was just bought last week and she is soooooo lonely.  She is dying for a home.”

Red Shirt #3: “She so needs a home. Let’s go to the room and play with her. Come on.”

Red Shirt #4: “I’m so happy you might take her. She is such a good dog.”

My wife conveniently disappears into a sea of red with the dog and now I know I have gotten into more than I bargained for.  However, we still can’t afford the thing, and on top of that, we can’t afford all the stuff we would need like toys, food, medicine, vet bills, etc.  Not with a $1200 dog.

I’m pacing back & forth dreading the idea of going into play with the animal for obvious reasons. I am an animal lover and do not want to risk the chance I grow quickly attached.

‘Babe, come here, oh my God, she is so cute.  Babe! Come over here!’

I slowly tread over to the cage fighting all my urges. The Dog is cute, playing with a ball like the happiest puppy ever.

Red Shirt #1: “Isn’t she sweet?

“Yeah, she is cute.  How much is she?”

Red Shirt #2: “Oh she is on sale for 60% off. We are getting the store redone and have to move all of the animals first.”

“How much?”

Red Shirt #1: “$470″

Gulp.  My wife perks up.

‘Oh my God, that is so cheap.’

Red Shirt #3: “Soooooo cheap. An amazing deal.”

Red Shirt #1 turns and yells across to all of the other Red Shirts…

“They might take her home. They might take her.”

Strike 3, you’re out of here!!!

A loud applause rings through the hall.  Red Shirts from all over are patting me on the back approvingly as I scurry closer to my wife. The pressure is on. We are being hailed as some sort of hero for saving this dog.  I have only one card left to play: My mother-in-law.

“Babe, I think you should call your Mom. She will tell you how much work these dogs are and how bad of an idea this is right now.”

“You think so? I want her so bad.”

“Think of the Dog though.”

“Okay. Let me go call her.  You play with her.”

My wife heads outside in search of a phone signal and I am left in this 2×2 play pen with this mini Chewbacca and two plastic balls. The dog is very cute, well behaved, and so playful. You can tell all she wants is the chance to play with this ball as many times a day as possible. It’s sad we can’t take her because she would be a lot of fun.

“Babe, oh my God, you will never believe this!”

“What?”

“My sister was here a month ago and saw the same dog. She wanted her so bad. My Mom said you have to take her.  They are waiting for us to bring her.”

“We can’t afford it though.”

“I’ll pay for the dog on my card. It’s okay.”

“What about food, supplies, toys.”

“My Mom has everything for us.”

This could not be happening. Now was the time to put my foot down. Except, the dog was sitting on it already. She curled her little body on my foot as if to make an exclamation point on the moment. Everything inside my mind told me that this was wrong.

• I don’t have time to take care of it with my wife going away.
• We really shouldn’t be spending any money right now.
• This was completely spontaneous with no thought whatsoever.
• I have 3 cats who’s world would be turned upside down.

However, in my body, I felt totally different. My heart wanted to take this dog and all the other ones home as well. My wife would love it.  She has always wanted one, and it is the missing piece to making her ‘home’ like she had always pictured.

“Can we get her? Or you want me to tell them to forget it?”

My wife was giving me the option just to test me. There was no way she was not walking out of this place with the dog unless I really put my foot down. All the rational thoughts that I had in my head told me to do so. However, one thought slipped in that finally sealed the deal for me.

This may take a few weeks of adjustments, but in the end I will have a friend for life.

There was no way to look at that badly. What are the chances that Fate would find us another dog just like this one, just as cheap?  It may not be the timing I wanted, or expected, but it was definitely a gift.

I think a lot of times in life, we overlook the importance of what makes us feel good. Having a relationship with a dog is something I always have, and always will, treasure. They are incredible pets, and I should be thankful I finally have one in my life. Rational thought would lead me to believe that it is a bad idea, but it is not.  It is actually a great idea, and something I will remember for the rest of my life.

Unexpected blessings can happen all the time.  Woman get pregnant unexpectedly, business opportunities appear unexpectedly, friends are developed unexpectedly, and love can happen unexpectedly.  In the big scheme of things, these are all wonderful, wonderful parts of life.  However, in the moment, rational thought will begin to warn us of all the potential problems that could happen. Such is the life of a human being.

We constantly have to deal with not only reality, but the fear of potential realities.

I try not to let those potential problems effect the big picture anymore. If it is a blessing, then it is a blessing, no matter what the circumstances. Sometimes, it just does not appear like that at the time. Think of the people who have gotten fired from jobs, only to be spurred on to creating their own million dollar companies. I’m sure they did not feel that way on the day they were told Donald Trump style ‘You’re fired’!

Sometimes, if we can look passed the potential problems we face in the short term, we will notice they pale in comparison to the rewards in the long term. That is what this experience reminded me of.

So now, I have a dog named Lola. She has been at my side for the entire week awaiting her Mama’s return from London. My cats have gotten over it a little more each day, and my life has been better because of it.

I just couldn’t see that using my brain. My brain could only think of the short term hardships like potty training, and all the walks outside.  I needed to use my heart to see the big picture which is the long term joy of having a dog in the house. Once I combined the two, the heart’s rewards outweighed the brain’s warning of potential stress.

After all, a lifelong friend is definitely worth much more than a month of minor annoyance in my opinion.  All I needed to realize was that the short term fears I had were worth overcoming for the long term rewards I would get.

Those rewards are something any loving pet owner can tell you about. I’m experiencing them already .

How do you deal with the unexpected in your life?