reflections from the interior
  • home
  • blog
  • reflections
  • poems
  • announcements
  • books & cards , etc.
  • contact me

lost and found and lessons that endure

9/27/2012

2 Comments

 
Just when I think I have some wisdom and clarity, I am shown that there is yet so much more.  My grandson and I rescued Sam, as you will recall from my previous post.  Seems so long ago that we were able to do our little part to help Sam rejoin his family.  Just a week after finding Sam, our sweet Sophie got lost.  It all started several weeks before that, actually, but I failed to listen to that little niggling voice inside that pushed and prodded and I didn't give enough credence to Sophie's body language. . . 


I was planning a trip to South Dakota - a quick flight, seeing the fall colors, meeting friends and then home again, all within a week.  A pet sitter, alternative to a kennel, seemed like an ideal little vacation for Sophie so we arranged a meet and greet session.  Then the niggling voice, Sophie's body language:  all is not as it seems.  Still  we arranged that Sophie would come back a week before I was to leave to spend a couple of hours with the sitter, without me.  That was the fateful Friday when I turned over Sophie to the sitter.  Within half an hour, a frantic phone call: "Sophie has run away!  She's in the field down the road.  Can you come and help find her?" Seems as if the sitter put Soph in the yard, went back inside her house, and Soph climbed the gate and ran to all that was familiar - a farm with a white fence and the woods beyond.  Two hours later she was running up the road toward me but a motor scooter coming up behind her - and sounding a lot like gunshots or fireworks - startled her and she took off again for corn fields and was out of sight the rest of the day.  It had been almost 6 hours of searching, calling; darkness was coming on and Sophie did not reappear.  I went home to rest preparing to return before dawn Saturday.  


Oh, the miles between us.  The pet sitter lives in a small town 25 miles away from our home!  All that next day, I drove and walked the neighborhoods and called her name and gave out posters, walked the fields at the end of the road, talked to firemen, police, border patrol, kids, strangers who had to translate my words to their own language for their companions, people walking dogs or washing cars or watering lawns or holding garage sales, strangers I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley at midnight - anybody standing and breathing got a poster and heard my plea.  And everyone - EVERYONE - was kind, sympathetic, compassionate and promised to watch and call.  My daughter posted the story on craigslist and we got phone calls from 15-20 miles further away with sightings.  We're still in communication with Mike, a young man 70 or 80 miles south whose border collie has been missing for a month and who emailed every lead he heard about!  Two women staked out their neighborhoods at night and early in the morning and both want to take care of Sophie if I ever need their help.  Just yesterday I had a phone call from an elderly woman who wondered if she should still keep looking; she was so happy to hear that Sophie is safely home.  


Just a few words about the pet sitter - I will not dwell here.  Her concern turned to blaming me and then blaming Sophie for punishing me; her messages got more caustic as the week went by.  No wonder my inner niggling voice and Sophie's avoidant body language at our meet and greet!  And I'm so glad that Sophie ran within the first half hour of a trial visit so I was still available to search and find her.  I'm not putting a positive spin on this woman's behavior and attitude. I am so aware that of the dozens of people - all strangers - that I met and talked to in a week, there was only one who was undesirable, disrespectful, mean.  The rest, every single one, from age 5 to 85 were absolutely honorable, caring, wanting only the best outcome and were doing all they could to bring that about.  


I spent long days from dawn till dusk walking the fields, in between the corn rows, in and out of barns, hayfields, rolling under barbed wire fences, opening cattle gates, searching drainage ditches, calling, praying, crying, calling.  Then sleeping out in my car at the end of the road near Jerry's farm.  Late afternoons he would drive his four wheeler down to feed the calves; at dawn he greeted me with a cheery "Good morning! Sleep well?" He encouraged me to walk wherever I wanted to go, to tell anybody I met that I was looking for my dog, and to trust that she would show up.  My kids and grandkids came to help; others -strangers, now become friends- walked the fields and the river bank looking and calling.  On Tuesday Sophie was seen at Jerry's pond.  I left a blanket and food out for her there then brought it by my car at night so I could hear her.  On Thursday four kids on bicycles saw her in the field across from Jerry's but I still couldn't find her.  I was exhausted and went home at dark. Jerry promised to call if he saw her.  At 7 am Friday morning, he called!  He saw her!  He kept her in sight  (she ran if anybody tried to get close) and called me several more times as I was dashing the 25 miles from my house to the field.  My son-in-law arrived 10 minutes after I did on Friday morning.  My car doors were open, Sophie jumped in and then out again and came running to him as soon as she saw him. She jumped in the car as I was running from the opposite end of the trees toward the car.  She cried and wiggled from head to tail, smiling and jumping around and "hugging" me with her whole body.  Then back in the car and home we went - tired, dirty, smelling like a farm, thirsty and hungry but she was alive and had only a couple of barbed wire scrapes on her leg.  


Jerry, who opened his farm to us, refused any reward.  He simply said to me, "You don't owe me a thing.  No matter how much money or how many toys you have, life is really all about helping each other."  Truly a gracious man; an inspiration.


Now here's what Sophie taught me:
1.) always trust your instincts
2.) hang out with the people who love you; they are many
3.) turn your back on those who don't; they are few
4.) when something or someone doesn't feel right, refer to 1.) above, 
      then run like the wind
5.) trust that you will always find your way to those who love you
6.) when all is said and done, look forward to the next adventure
7.) repeat for your whole life, especially 1.)


The trip to South Dakota? Cancelled. Maybe next summer Sophie and I will be ready for a road trip and a family reunion.  We know the world is full of people who want to be connected and who love stories with happy endings!



2 Comments

RESCUE!  a true story about grandma, grandson & Sam

9/13/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
it was just last Friday, and

if you hadn’t seen the watermelon I bought the day before, and
if you hadn’t said “YUM! Let’s have some watermelon,” and
if I hadn’t said, “Let’s go out in the yard to eat it,” and
if it hadn’t been such a hot day, and
if you hadn’t said, “Let’s move our chairs into the shade,” and
if I hadn’t turned my chair to face your chair, and
if I hadn’t been looking beyond you to the railroad trestle, and

if I hadn’t said, “What’s that on the railroad trestle?” and
if you hadn’t said, “It looks like a big stump. Or maybe it’s a deer. Or a bear,” and
if I hadn’t gone inside to get the binoculars, and
if it – the stump or the deer or bear - hadn’t moved its head just as we looked,
we would never have said, “IT’S A DOG!!!” and

if I hadn’t scanned my facebook news feed just the night before, and
if Laurie hadn’t posted an urgent message about a missing golden retriever just the day before that, and
if Laurie hadn’t answered her phone (like she almost never does!) just when we called her, and
if Doug and Carol lived more than just two miles away from us, and
if they hadn’t been home when Laurie called them,
we would never have learned this was indeed, SAM, the missing golden retriever, and

if Sam hadn’t looked at us and wagged his tail when we walked toward him and called his name, and
if he hadn’t stood up and sat right down again, several times,
we would not have said, “Oh, no. Sam is hurt!” and
if Doug and Carol hadn’t come just then, and
if Doug hadn’t walked down the tracks to Sam, calling his name, and
if Sam hadn’t tried to stand up but sat down again, several times,

Doug would not have discovered that Sam’s foot was stuck in the trestle, and
he needed to be gently released so he could walk and wag and smile, and

if I hadn’t asked “How long have you had Sam?” and
if Carol hadn’t said, “He’s not our dog, he belongs to my brother and sister-in-law who came for a visit on Sunday and had to go home without Sam on Monday,” and,  if I hadn't asked, “Where do they live?”

we would never have learned that Sam was from South Dakota where I used to  live, and where you have many cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents!

and if we hadn’t sat down in the shade again to talk about the way 
things seem to happen for a reason and all that had happened just now, just so,
you would not have said, “It’s almost like we knew.”

and I would not have felt a tear of happiness, to be with you, just now, just so,
and to know how very wise you are.

1 Comment

Stewardship

9/6/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
I live in the land of Chief Seathl (Seattle) of the Suwamish Tribe.  His presence and the presence of his people is palpable.  This is a region that is home to many who regard the land, the rivers, the plants and animals as sacred.  Today’s people, of all colors, practice organic farming, local sourcing of food, legislation to preserve and sustain our Mother Earth for present and future generations.  Neighbors support one another’s efforts and help in times of need. There is thoughtfulness in action. There are many indicators that give me cause for joy and hope. 

Chief Seathl told us of a way to live, a model to emulate, in his letter to Franklin Pierce, President of the US, in 1854:

“… Every part of this earth is sacred to my people.  Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people.  The sap which courses through the trees carries the memory of the red man.  So when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us …
      …One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover – our God is the same God.  You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land, but you cannot. He is the God of man, and his compassion is equal for the red man and the white.  This earth is precious to Him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes.  Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.
      …When the last red man has vanished from this earth, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people.  For they love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. So, if we sell our land, love it as we’ve loved it. Care for it as we’ve cared for it.  Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it.  And with all your strength, with all your mind, with all your heart, preserve it for your children, and love it … as God loves us all. One thing we know. Our God is the same God.  This earth is precious to Him.  Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny.  We may be brothers after all.  We shall see…”

       
 (many translations exist; this one from Ed McGaa’s book, Mother Earth Spirituality)                              

About that same time, Lakota Holy Man, Nicholas Black Elk, in his youth was given a powerful vision. He was shown the beauty and the flourishing of the earth.  He was also shown what would befall the earth if we did not live in the manner that Chief Seathl described.  He had great despair.  And he was reassured: “to the four quarters you shall run for help, and nothing will be strong before you….”  Toward the end of his life, remembering his vision, and knowing the suffering of the earth and all creatures, he prayed: … “from the south (you have given me) the nation’s sacred hoop and the tree that was to bloom. To the center of the world you have taken me and showed the goodness and the beauty and the strangeness of the greening earth, the only mother… it may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives.  Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds…Hear me in my sorrow for I may never call again. O make my people live.”
                                            - 
Black Elk Speaks, John G. Neihardt

     It is just over 150 years since these wise men spoke.  In this short time how have we come to lose our way, how have we contaminated our bed, how have we nourished the little root of the sacred tree?  Chief Seathl and Nicholas Black Elk were individuals with powerful visions that have survived and still may inspire us to individual and collective action.  Let us hope our actions come in time that the people may live and the earth may flourish.


2 Comments

    Archives

    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    Author

    musings may delight or disturb;  musings may spark new activity, sometimes. . . . .

    Phyllis shares current musings, momentary insights, process in motion.


    All reflections are original material copyrighted by Phyllis.  Please ask permission to quote, copy or reproduce. 



    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly