Our 12 year old daughter, Mette, has an amazing gifting with animals. She has named members of single breed flocks of chickens individually...and she can tell you which one is which. I am reminded of a time when she was just barely 3 years old. We had a big problem with feral cats. Of course, they weren't a problem to her because she could pick them all up...but there were too many..16 to be exact. Through our reaching out, we received help from an organization called Kittico. They helped us with their trap, neuter and release program.
On trapping day, a random black cat showed up on our property and volunteered itself in one of the traps. Wanting to be certain to fix all of the problems, we loaded the mystery cat up with the others and began the trek to the drop off location. All cats were successfully sterilized and some of the wilder ones, treated for their various illnesses and fighting wounds. Shortly before making the trip to Dallas to pick them up, we received a phone call. Our tireless, enthusiastic volunteer helper was calling to tell us that the mystery black cat had managed to escape it's carrier during the transport and was lost. She was so upset, and we reassured her that it wasn't even one of "our" cats anyway and would not be missed. When we arrived at the volunteers house, tiny little Mette..went from cage..to cage..to cage..to cage..sticking her brown little pigtails in all sixteen. She stops...looks at us...and declares "The other black one is missing." As we stood there with our mouths gaping and the poor volunteer in tears...we were seeing part of Mette's gift revealed. Now on with the story...
9 years later...Mette is now a passionate, emerging dog trainer. If she meets a dog one time, he or she is cataloged in Mette's brain for life. It's name, personality, drive...everything..branded in her memory. About a year and a half ago, she helped care for and train some aspiring search and rescue German Shepard puppies: Razor, Missy and Lucy. Razor is still in our life, but Missy and Lucy have gone on to work with other families.
A couple of weeks ago, I dropped Mette off at the park, in the care of big brother, Kristoffer, to train one of her dogs. I notice a beautiful, young German Shepard lying down in the shade. I made a mental note of what a nice looking and well cared for dog she was....as I drove away.
A few minutes later..my phone is ringing..it's Mette. "Mom. Did you see that German Shepard at the park?" I replied "Yes!" Mette exclaims "I KNOW that dog is Lucy!" I encouraged her, under the watchful eye of her brother. to go over and strike up a conversation with the owner. Which she did.
Enter....Art. Unbeknownst to her, Art already knew of Mette through dog circles, and treated her as if he had met a celebrity. He held her words and opinions about Lucy (now named Siri) in such high esteem. To say they "hit it off" is a wild understatement. Art describes his experience in the day that Mette approached him as "Like the sun was coming towards me!" They were instant friends, destined to meet at the park this day. And more "accidental" meetings would occur. Mette came home yesterday bubbling over about her conversations with Art..."You HAVE to meet Him!" she declared to us both. And meet him, we would.
We had begun planning, last weekend, to schedule a weekly brainstorming/writing date. Thursday nights at Starbucks after Mette's park training was the appointed time slot. We got the kids situated, grabbed our tablet and notebooks, and headed out. As I ordered our Vanilla Macchiatos in a "real glass", Kristoffer sat down with our spread of notebooks and such at the big long farm table that sits just inside the front door of "our Starbucks". We normally choose the "comfy chairs" but we were here to work. We had a vision, a plan...we were on a mission. Not to be bothered by the woman working at the other end of the table, we began our session...and, I'm certain, quickly scared her away with our enthusiasm. About 20 minutes into our work..a man comes through the door and sits down in the spot that the woman left. I looked across the table at him and noticed that he had arthritis in his hands..an identifying trait that Mette had noticed in Art. As I lifted my eyes from the table I saw out the window a van with a German Shepard sitting inside. Astounded...I looked at him and I said "What is your name?" "Art" he replied. And I watched his face come to life as I said "We are Mette's parents!"
For the next almost 3 hours, we listened to Art's story, and what a story it is! We laughed and we cried and we sat in amazement that God had brought us together in this moment. For 24 years, Art worked as a professional in PGA golf. He traveled and worked for the PGA meeting lots of interesting people. He met the love of his life in an airport and experienced a love that most people will never find in their lifetime. But tragically, before they could be married, she was killed in a terrible car accident. Over the next many years, his broken heart transferred his brokenness to the rest of his body and he suffers from a dibilitating auto immune disease. Unable to work, struggling with identifying as "disabled"..through the cost of his illness and medications..he now lives in his van with his service dog Siri (Lucy). He's an aspiring photographer, closet writer and a park bench counselor..with a story to tell..that he has been holding in his heart for a long time. It's the kind of story that people will really connect with..a story of love, and loss, struggle and carrying on. A story of healing..that isn't even finished yet. We left Starbucks committed to helping him tell his story. Stay tuned..greater things are yet to come.
