“As much as you try to organize your life,
life will surprise you.”

— Bryce Dessner

There are not many true surprises left in life for me to discover, I thought.

This has been a week of life taking the steering wheel and the forces beyond my control (which exist all the time) asserting themselves into my jam-packed schedule. If you are a spiritual person you might say, “God had a hand in this one, Leslie.”

I was preparing to go out of town for only the second time this year.

This is a radical departure from my lifestyle a decade ago.

I used to be on a plane for work at least once a week during the decade that I was writing business books. I mastered the art of packing, preparing, navigating the airports, car rentals, new cities and many transitions.

We referred to ourselves as ‘Road Warriors’.

I accumulated air miles and got too comfortable with being ‘bumped up’ in my seating class.

Then the world changed, and my life changed, and my lifestyle changed, and I no longer have the same competencies (they diminish if unused – there is a lesson here to grab).

I wonder if there is a ‘new generation’ of ‘Road Warriors’?

The events of 9/11 changed the airport and flying experience forever.

I changed my lifestyle from condo living (which was very efficient for a frequent flyer) to cottage living with the responsibilities of a dog and a yard.

First, I rescued an abandoned dog; then I rescued my mother whose health was in steep decline. These events caused a total reset of my lifestyle. (I will remember that year as the best and hardest of my life.)

I learned to work from the dining room table in the cottage when I could, stopped my travel, and became a homebody with responsibility for other people’s and dog’s comfort. But, with no regrets!

I walked my dogs on the shores of Lake Erie every morning (off their leads – which was a ‘no-no’ at the condo), had breakfast with my mother every morning and after she passed with my next-door neighbors. I tended a garden, and learned the responsibilities of owning a physical house.

This was a big departure from my lifestyle of ‘Road Warrior’ but a welcomed new phase of life with lots to learn.

Lastly, the pandemic’s work from home requirement cemented me into a different way of living.

I know you want me to get to the story about surprises. I acknowledge my habit of needing to create context for what I want to share. (If we are together and you want me to be brief and get directly to the point, just tell me.)

So. Again. This has been a week of surprises.

I love a positive surprise. And I try to react to the negative surprises appropriately.

This week I experienced a rainbow of emotions and have landed in the place I strive to be – gratitude.

You know I have six dogs. Yup, too many. They are a pack, and I am their pack leader, and I couldn’t let any go to other households. When people suggest this, I respond with “Which of your children will you give away?”

Four are boys, two are girls. There is one un-neutered male French Bulldog, and the two little girl Frenchies are not spayed. Can you see the ‘surprise’? Which shouldn’t be a surprise if I was a wiser and more experienced person.

It was on my bucket list to be a “puppy” Mom once in my life. And girl French Bulldogs came into my life and Minster is not neutered because Dr. Scott, the Vet, said “Don’t neuter him. Minister is the best example of a French Bulldog I have ever seen.” This man planted the seed in my brain that is now a pregnant French Bulldog named Keller (for Helen Keller).

Pause.

You would think that I should not be surprised. However, my information bank held the understanding that French Bulldogs rarely could co-create without the assist of artificial insemination. Careful what you count on. Nature has a way. Wasn’t that a line from the first Jurassic Park movie?

Though I thought I supervised the dogs during the girl’s heat cycle, Minster was persistent, and Keller was willing, and I am to be a grandmother. Yikes!

Yikes!

Yikes!

Yikes!

If one could get pregnant there was a chance that Keller’s sister Ellie could be as well.

Two unplanned trips to the vet and we have our information.

Keller is pregnant and due at the end of June when my life will become very crazy. I will learn to be a puppy doula and change everything in my household to care for newborns. And Ellie (Eleanor Roosevelt) is not pregnant. I am relieved. Overwhelmed. Excited. A little anxious. Asking for advice, help and support. I am concerned about the health of Keller and the puppies (however many there are to be). Humbled by how my life will change again. Humored by the surprise. I am a mirror of the newly released ‘Inside Out 2’ movie – a plethora of emotions.

And still I made the trip to D.C. for a conference. Keller is at the vet under caring supervision. The other five dogs joyfully were delivered to the kennel that they love and are very safe and well cared for. I didn’t fly but now prefer to drive when I commute so I made the trip to a friend’s home in Gaithersburg, MD in time for the conference.

In the process, as you might guess by now, the surprises just kept coming. I thought real unexpected surprises were rare in life. However, now that I had one, new surprises are raining down upon me. I might just be wrong. Life is filled with constant surprises – opportunities to learn, grow, stretch my skills and delight in the unknowing.

Some many surprises and the lessons that go with them that I will need to write several blogs. Stay tuned.

For the moment let’s stay with the joyful news of new puppies.

• What in your life has surprised you recently?

• How did you react?

• Please share your stories and think ‘puppies’.

I return to Cleveland in a few days and pick up my responsibilities that will now include nurturing a pregnant dog and being on labor watch. French Bulldogs cannot birth naturally so I will be an extra pair of hand at Keller’s c-section.

Keep us in your prayers. Share your own experience if you have been through this process.

Laugh with me.

Leslie

P.S. In life I have had the experience several times of letting go of a loved one and welcoming a newborn in the same time period. Birth and death seem to be bookends. As Keller and I prepare (with the help of the vet staff) for a litter, the birth of the third book in the children’s book series about my beloved dog Buddha Bear and our rescued dog Big Boy is launched on Amazon. This final book tells the story of loving, losing each dog, and keeping our hearts soft to finding a new dog. Again, the universe has a plan. I am celebrating new puppies while holding the memory of my original dog and his big buddy with tears of letting them go because of illness. Somehow, in this are the big lesson and the balance of life. More to come.

Leslie

“Surprise is the greatest gift
which life can grant us.”

— Boris Pasternak