November 23 is a special day to me because it’s the day I got my G license and found one of my most loyal companions.
It was 2007 and I had moved back to my Dad and Bonnie’s after a relationship I thought was ‘the one’ ended and so my Dad helped me to buy a car and I commuted back and forth to McMaster University for the next 2.5 years when I graduated with an English degree.
It was a significant time in my life and what’s especially significant about this day in particular is that it was actually my third attempt at my G license because I had failed two previous attempts in order to get it on this day.
I’d moved to Hamilton in my first year to live in Residence on campus and that summer I rented a student house with a friend who went back home for the summer; so it was just me and then the guy I met at the end of May while she was away and who practically moved in right away. When she got back and wanted him gone, I left too but continued paying for my room. Not ideal for anyone and it cost a good friendship too sadly; live and learn!
He and I lived together across from campus for my second year, where I switched from Social Work due to all the policies and procedures I just wasn’t willing to fixate on when my passion is for actually helping people into English only because my Dad refused to let me drop out when I’d tried part way through second year.
I had this idea we were going to ‘settle down’ and have a few kids at home I could stay home with while babysitting other local kids like my Mom had done when my brother and I were growing up. But that was short lived and when I moved back to ‘the farm’ in July 2007 I hadn’t driven a tremendous amount in a while so I was rusty.
I took my Dad’s black crew cab truck for my first attempt but failed a couple parts so chalked it up to inexperience and size. The next attempt was tried in my Mom’s two door Accord but that day wasn’t a success either. By the time I showed up for my third test on November 23, I’d taken a few driving lessons from my Driver’s Ed instructor and been commuting back and forth to Hamilton for a couple months already so it was a different experience.
When I went to the license bureau afterward to be issued my temporary license, and popped in to the Paulmac’s Pet Shop in the plaza to grab my hamster some yoghurt drops, that was when I saw him.
His one little arm folded and poised with a questioning look, and the other firmly bracing him away from the woman’s chest who was holding him, he just looked too precious to not cuddle for a moment. But that’s when it happened.
He curled himself up in the nook of my arm and fell sound asleep, and I knew he had chosen me.
I’d come in for yoghurt drops and we already had a long haired white cat named Zera at home, who threw up hairballs regularly and didn’t require or desire human companionship beyond being fed, so when I called my Dad and reminded him of our previous conversation about getting Zera a feline companion he couldn’t recall it.
I pled my cause and he reluctantly told me to do what I felt best. And suddenly I had yoghurt drops, my temporary license permit and adoption papers on the table.
Julius Romeo began as Pandabear but these two historical names are far more befitting a soul as fabulous as his. But just when the story seems easy sailing to the finish line, I’ll share the part where I almost bailed out.
Just as I was signing the adoption papers, the Manager came up to the desk and informed me that he was actually a really sick little feline and she’d been waiting till the store closed to take him to the vet’s. So instead of taking home a cat I hadn’t intended to get before happening across one who chose me, I left with adoption papers for a sick kitten.
People thought I was even crazier than normal, but I felt guided to say yes and so I listened.
13 years later, boy am I ever glad I did too!?
I remember getting the call a few days later from the vet saying he was ready to come home with some medication, and I almost said it was too much bother. I was right in the final week of the semester with final essays due and exams pending, and it just seemed like too much. Too overwhelming. Too unexpected. Too spontaneous.
And yet I said yes again and left my unfinished essays behind for an hour to drive to Simcoe and collect my new cat.
All these years later I still remember the drive home down East Quarter line road where his terrified meow from under my seat broke my heart because I knew he didn’t understand his short life of chaos was about to be settled for a while. And apart from one pit stop to find the little guy and then hold him on my lap for the remainder of the drive, it was just the beginning of a wonderful life together (apart from the years I lived in England and he held down the home front here).
The moral of this story is that I had to fail twice in order to show up on this day, all those years ago, so that he and I were able to find each other in this life time. And the craziest part that makes me know this was a ‘God thing’ (whatever that means to you) is that I only paid for the test the first time.
Blessings are yours when you say yes to the inner guidance you receive as you go.
Much love,
Laura JeH – Namaste
PS. Really looking forward to interviewing a former member of the LDS (Mormon) religion this afternoon, in relation to the social control measures being enacted on the public right now from a B.S. perspective that often only comes from separating from what we previously believed in. That interview will take place at 6:30pm EST and we may stream it live around 7pm if we have anyone interested in listening to the unfiltered and unedited edition of this Truth Talk – comment below to let us know!
