Before we get to today’s company, rain, professional persons and the possibility that our house may have to prove it is actually a house, I need to talk about something pretty important. Patreon is what helps us keep doing all of this, and right now that support is especially vital. For $5 a month, you get the full weekday blogs, the audio blogs read by Girl Person and me, extra updates and everything we are working toward. More importantly, that support helps keep food on our very old, very lopsided rustico table while we continue helping real rescue dogs be seen. And when I say lopsided, I mean there are meals around here that could probably slide directly onto the floor if nobody is paying attention. Convenient for me, admittedly.
If you have been reading along and wondering whether $5 really makes a difference, it does. Especially now. We are trying to get through this uncertain stretch with the rustico sale, keep our work going and grow This Is…Me at the same time. Having more persons join us on Patreon gives us something steady underneath all of that uncertainty, and we would be incredibly grateful to have you there.
Patreon:
www.patreon.com/2travelingdogsrescue
Now, apparently I have to go prepare for company that is not bringing dinner.
This is Fruitycake. Today, company is coming to the rustico, and before anyone gets excited, no, they are not coming for dinner. I already checked. There is no pizza being ordered, nobody asked what I would like on mine, and apparently this entire visit is about “professional matters.” I am beginning to understand why dogs are not generally included in real estate transactions.
The professional persons are coming up the mountain today to look at the rustico for the persons who want to buy it. They need to make sure it really is a house, that everything is what it is supposed to be and that all the important official things are acceptable so the buyer can move forward. You would think the three floors, windows, doors, kitchen, bathroom and the fact that we have been living in it might have settled the house question, but apparently there are forms for these things. Persons do love a form.
Of course, the weather has chosen this exact moment to lose its mind. We have rain, cold, wind and storms moving in, because why would we possibly want to show this place on one of those beautiful, sunshiney Portofino days when light comes through the trees, the waterfall sparkles and the whole mountain looks like somebody turned the saturation up too high? No. Let us invite the professional persons when the stones are slippery, the leaves are wet, the woods are dark and everybody arrives looking like they have just crossed the Atlantic in a rowboat. Perfect. Girl Person is trying not to take this personally.
But maybe there is actually something good about being seen at your worst. We spend so much time wanting people to see the polished version of everything. We clean the house before company comes as though we normally live without shoes, dishes or evidence of being alive. We want the good hair day, the sunshiney mountain, the impressive answer and the version of ourselves that looks like we absolutely know what we are doing. Meanwhile, I have never once worried about any of this. I have greeted persons while covered in mud and felt extremely confident about my presentation.
Maybe seeing something at its worst gets the hard part out of the way. It is like eating the salad before the pizza. Nobody is particularly thrilled about the salad. Nobody drove up a mountain thinking, “I certainly hope there is lettuce.” But you eat it, you get through it, and then when the pizza arrives, you appreciate it even more. Perhaps today is the rustico’s salad course. If someone can walk up here in rain and cold, see the mountain with wet hair and no makeup and still think, yes, I want this place, then wait until they meet it on a sunshiney May morning.
We are nervous, though. There is no funny way around that part. We want this sale to go through very badly, and every time we get through one step, another step appears carrying a clipboard. We have tried not to get too far ahead of ourselves because we know nothing is finished until it is finished, but it is difficult not to imagine what comes next. It is also difficult not to imagine every possible thing that could go wrong, because Girl Person’s brain offers that service completely free of charge and apparently with unlimited availability.
But we keep coming back to how we got here in the first place. This rustico had been for sale for about ten years before we found it. Ten years. It sat here through rainstorms, summers, winters, falling leaves and probably quite a few persons who looked at the walk up and suddenly remembered they had an urgent appointment somewhere flat. Then we came along.
Even after we found it, getting it was not simple. It took us about three months, and there were times when it seemed like it simply was not going to happen. We prayed through those months because there really was not much else we could do. Doors opened that we did not know how to open ourselves, things worked out that we could not force into place, and eventually this strange old house on a mountain that had waited ten years became ours.
And now we are standing on the other side of that story trying to let it go. That is a strange feeling. Sometimes the thing you prayed so hard to receive is not something you were meant to hold forever. Maybe it came into your life for a season, or for a lesson, or because you needed it and it needed you at exactly the same time. We have loved this place. We have worked for it, worried about it, laughed here, cried here, carried groceries up this mountain in weather that should legally qualify Boy Person for some type of medal, and made a life here. None of that becomes less important because we are ready for something different.
Which brings us to today’s affirmation for October 8: I Will Leave A Little Room For Surprise.
I will make plans without squeezing every possibility out of the day. Something unplanned may delight me, teach me or redirect me. I will leave a little room for life to surprise me.
This one feels suspiciously specific.
Girl Person would prefer an affirmation called “I Will Receive A Detailed Written Explanation Of Exactly What Happens Next, Including Dates, Times And Confirmation Numbers.” Unfortunately, that was apparently unavailable. So instead, we are leaving a little room for surprise.
Maybe today goes exactly as we hope. Maybe the professional persons see what they need to see, check what they need to check and go back down the mountain satisfied. Maybe the rain gives us a break. Maybe it does not. Maybe something we have been worrying about turns out to be nothing. Maybe something completely unexpected happens that eventually makes sense. We can prepare, clean, answer questions and make plans, but at some point we have to stop trying to control every inch of the road ahead and leave a little room for life to do something we did not think of.
After all, this rustico waited ten years for us. We certainly did not plan that. We did not know this mountain existed while it was sitting here waiting for somebody to find it. And then somehow we did.
So today, company is coming, but not for dinner. The rustico may be wet, the mountain may be muddy, Girl Person may be pretending not to stare nervously at everyone’s facial expressions, Boy Person will probably check something fourteen times, and I will be conducting my own inspection to determine whether any of these professional persons secretly brought snacks.
Let them see the rustico in the rain. Let them see the salad.
Because if they still love it after the salad, just imagine how good the pizza is going to taste.
Fruitycake
P.S. If you would like to help us directly right now, support is very low and every donation helps with groceries, Fruitycake necessities, supplies and keeping our work going while we get through these next uncertain steps. Our necessities list is here:
www.tinyurl.com/2tdnecessities
Venmo travelingdogs2
Zelle rachael@2travelingdogs.com
Patreon is $5 a month, and that steady support means more to us than you probably realize:
www.patreon.com/2travelingdogsrescue
And please remember This Is…Me. We are working to help real rescue dogs be seen, believed and rescued in a world where it is becoming harder to know what online is real. Shelters and rescues can submit dogs to rachael@2travelingdogs.com, and persons can sponsor a This Is…Me dog so we can verify and share another real dog who needs someone to notice.
Sponsor a This Is…Me dog:
www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/Q56YEJJTKXY96
Thank you for helping us keep food on the lopsided table, keep telling the stories and keep making rescues the breed of choice. And if anything falls off that lopsided table, I continue to offer a completely free cleanup service.
