That's a picture of me in Houston with our precious poodles, Hope Elizabeth the standard, and Henri the toy. You can imagine why the little guy got that name if you were around him. Everyday that I got home from cancer treatment, they were there to jump on me, demand me pet them and walk them as if to say I don't care what kind of a day you have had, what about my needs? And they did deserve it because poodle love will be my chapter 3 of a surviving cancer book. Which leads me to yesterday.
I blogged here about how happy I was to be a Realtor on Monday morning, sitting in my robe, drinking coffee at the computer, blogging and commenting, and working on internet lead generation. Meanwhile, my life's partner and real estate partner Charlene was having the opposite day. Will the roofers show up to one house, will the appraisal come in on another, and will the mortgage company fund on a short sale closing today. She was going crazy, but hey, I was not going to let that get me down. She was going to yoga and when she got back, hopefully she would be centered again, and we would do our morning 15 miler on the bikes. I ended up biking more than that, but not the way I thought I would around the lake.
We had landscapers doing a french drain, and removing a volunteer tree by our back gate. Then Charlene had to go run an errand, and she saw that the workers had left the back gate open, and the dogs through doggie doors can get to the yard. They were gone and then I joined into Charlene's panic. I drove the neighborhood yelling for them, joined by Charlene, the workers, the workers families and four neighbors. I made missing reward signs and the next door neighbors son and I got on our bicycles and posted every power line in 1/2 mile. We called every pound, animal shelter, a close by vet to alert them. No dogs, and the temperature turned 102. It had been four hours since they got out, and we were losing hope. Then Charlene decided to go to the neighborhood to the south because that is the way we walk them, and maybe they were following the scent. She turned the corner in her car yelling out the open windows and she heard what she though were poodle barks. Yes, there they were! They were back from their Milo and Otis adventure. They ran to Charlene, got into the car, and parked their noses in front of the air vents.
We got them home and after a few liters of water, they settle down to a long, long nap. For me, all beautiful mornings can be shattered by events, but for Charlene something else happened. Real Estate was not worth worrying yourself sick over. Family, friends, and precious little bundles of unconditional love is what really matters. FYI, the roof got on, the appraiser seemed satisfied with the value, and the closing funded, and her worry over it didn't change whether these events would happen or not. The only thing that mattered is being like the proverbial shepherd looking for that one lost sheep.
The moral of the story is this. Don't panic until it is time, then if needed to, go for the gold. Just make sure that the panic fits the situation. Hint, real estate is not that important in the grand scheme of things, or in the wandering of dogs.
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