Jackson Galaxy - Coincidence?

Okay this is crazy.

Jackson Galaxy was supposed to be in Austin for a book signing on May 7th. I had it on my calendar. I even texted the Other and said "This is what I'm doing on May 7th."

But somehow life intervened and I didn't look at my calendar on May 7th. I missed it.

I woke up the next morning with an inexplicable sense of dread. You know that feeling - when you know something is wrong but you don't know what.

Two days later I figured out that it was that I had missed it. I was so looking forward to it :(.

I love his show, and he seems like such a nice person. I knew he'd never come back here.

I was sad for nearly the whole month.

Then, on Memorial Day, I just happened to be on Twitter when Austin Pets Alive tweeted that there was a private event with him at the shelter - just a small group of people for a chat and Q&A. I have never bought tickets so fast in my life! I didn't understand why he had come back here but I knew I wasn't going to miss this.

So I violated my own rule about never leaving the house on a holiday weekend and headed over. It was amazing. He's such a nice, genuine person, and he truly loves and respects animals. Also, he called me up to be a volunteer in a cat re-enactment and rubbed his head all over me. I'm not exaggerating. Ask Robin.

His book is incredible - I highly recommend it.

After this event, he was headed to Book People for a book signing, so I thought I'd go, even though I'd planned only to stamp on Memorial Day and I was already three hours into not stamping.

This is where the magic happened, and where the universe confirmed for me that there are no coincidences.

Turns out he had cancelled, unbeknownst to me, the May 7th gig. Glad I didn't go. He rescheduled it and the Memorial Day visit was, in fact, the very last appearance on his book tour.

I lucked out. But not like you think.

Turns out that I was sitting next to a man who fosters kittens like my friend Rebecca does, and I started talking to him. Somehow, the topic of China killing my Spotty cat came up and we talked about pet food. A few minutes in, a girl behind me said, "I'm sorry - I couldn't help overhearing you," and proceeded to tell me she, too had lost a cat in this incident.

This is the very first person I've met who has gone through what I went through with Spot and it was such an incredible relief to talk to someone who understood. We had to be shushed when he came out to speak. Finally, I had found someone who knew that unique grief and anger that I've carried around since those evil people killed my pet. Even if it sounds sad, it wasn't. It was like I had been waiting to meet this nice lady for years.

I'm ever so grateful for strange timing and just the way things work. Makes you grateful for those moments where you feel stupid for forgetting to go to things you really wanted to do. :)

To top it all off, my brother texted me from the airport the next morning, where he ran into Mr. Galaxy. Again - what are the odds? Well, my brother flies a lot, so maybe those were higher. Still.

Now there are some other things that are much more complicated that we need to talk about

Like these crazy A Bug's Life creatures on my cucumber plant - what the heck are they??? They stick their butts up in the air like Beyonce!

Please tell me you know what they are. I never kill anything unless I know it's trying to kill me or eat my food, so I'd like to spare it if it is just proud of its butt and is not eating my plant.

I had my background class Memorial Day weekend also - it was SO much fun! This is the faux woodgrain background technique we did with the Everything Eleanor set. Cool, eh?

I hope you have a good weekend, full of positive coincidence! :)

Loveyameanitbye.