THE MAGIC OF FATE ✨ Part 2

So here's where I believe fate revealed itself in a way that I couldn't miss it.

My therapist has been saying to me for years now, around various topics, to always look for patterns. Within this, to understand what we are supposed to learn. Nothing is coincidental. He can be very pragmatic when I am in turmoil (I had 2 sessions following Barney's diagnosis where I just spent the full hour crying about how painful it all was), and he teaches me to see what's right in front of me, and accept it, which in turns comes with an inner peace. So I've been quite aware recently of looking for what I needed to learn.

Now one thing I haven't written about so far, is a fateful moment 2 years ago in June 2022, when I stumbled across a suggested post in my Instagram feed. This dog 'Dexter Dog' was the spitting image of Wilma. You'll see from the pictures of the dogs attached to this collection of blogs, that these aren't dogs you see very often. I sometimes get asked if they're cockerpoos or from the poodle/doodle family because it's the common breed. They aren't, they are Bichon Frisé x Jack Russell. And the JR is prominent in colour and nature. I could spot the breed from a mile off, and that's just it, I've never seen another one in the last decade.

So when I came across this post, I took to the page and looked at all the content. I was certain we were connected. After a few DMs back and forth, we'd established that Dexter was in fact Barney's litter mate. Born at the same time, to the same family, and Jen, his human, was roughly the same age as me. In fact, as the years have passed, we've developed a great friendship built on the fact that we are incredibly similar, with similar thought patterns AND a deep connection to our soul dogs. And luckily, we live only roughly an hour apart. We arranged to meet in summer 2022 and Barney and Dexter behaved in such a way with each other that we knew, that they knew. And ever since then we get together for dog walks and coffee several times a year, and chat most weeks.

Fate would have it that sadly Dexter has also been quite poorly lately, and after some tests and suspicion around Lymphoma, Dexter was booked in for a scan (just like Barney's) just 2 weeks after Barney had his. Jen and I have leant on each other throughout this entire process, knowing almost exactly how the other feels, and carrying the same fears. We'd convinced ourselves that Dexter too, probably had heart disease, especially as he already had a diagnosed murmur from years ago.

Here's where it starts getting weird.

About 2 weeks after Barney's diagnosis I was driving home, a journey that would usually take 50mins was clocking up to 3hrs. This year Barney has developed an insane fear in the car. He's gone from being a dog so used to travelling (every day, often hours at a time) to having full blown panic attacks where pre-heart diagnosis I was worried he was going to give himself a heart attack, now post-diagnosis, you can only imagine how this goes.

This long journey, and his meltdown, meant I was on the look out to pull over somewhere and get him out the car to have a break and calm down. I spotted a lay by/car park and pulled in. I hadn't realised at the time I was only 20mins from home, my sat nav had taken me a wild way home because of the awful traffic so I had no clue of my bearings. The view, was simply spectacular, and there was a beautiful place (shout-out 'Wilson & Bay Coffee Club') to to get food and a coffee.

Whilst queuing for a coffee, dogs in tow, I was approached by a lovely older lady who asked about the dogs. This is a common occurrence for us, we cannot go out without being stopped because of their unique appearance of a 'teddy bear with huge eyes'. The lady asked all about their breed, temperament, etc and then proceeded to tell me she'd really like a dog and having seen Barney & Wilma (she was obsessed with Barney), she's decided that's what she wants. She told me she had a dog many years ago who had a heart murmur, and then made it very clear, that's not what he died from. I then told her our story and why we had pulled over in the first place. She told me it was fate that we were meant to meet.

As I was getting back in to the car, there was another older lady parked next to me, reading a book with her window down, enjoying the sunshine. She looked at me and said "shhhh", she actioned to someone in the back sleeping who I thought was maybe a grandchild.

Turns out it was her friends' dog that she was 'babysitting' and the dog was apparently 'a nightmare'.

Wilma had already jumped into my car, so this lady only saw Barney. She literally got herself out of her car to cuddle him, she was besotted. Again asking all about him and his breed. We stood talking for about 30mins. She told me she used to have a dog, Lenny, her soul dog and he went through all the tough times, including a divorce, with her. She told me he was the love of her life. And then she told me he had a heart murmur. This I must say was totally unprompted by me, I hadn't shared Barney's diagnosis with either lady until after they mentioned their own dogs. She welled up and got very teary talking about losing him, she said it broke her heart and she's never felt the same since. Then she told me it was 10 years ago. She also told me that he hadn't died from his heart murmur.

I realised in this moment that my fear of losing my dogs, was standing right there in real time in front of me. The devastating heartbreak that I anticipate, was being shown to me through someone else's pain.

As I left that car park, and drove home, I couldn't believe the chances of stumbling across this beautiful place so close to home that I'd never discovered before, and then meeting these 2 ladies with their own stories of loss, and heartbreak.

But little did I know what was rapidly coming round the corner in just 2 weeks time...