Sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for my connecting flight to San Diego a couple struck up a conversation from the seats opposite me. They were chatting up the people around us and the man asked if I was looking forward to going to San Diego. I said yes. Then he asked what was bringing me out there. I told them I was attending a Widow’s Conference. His wife looked surprised and commented there was a group for everything and as they left to board they told me to have a good time. People really never know what to say, something I’ve come to accept.
At the same time I had noticed two women across from me. After the inquiring couple was gone, the younger woman came up to me and introduced herself saying she was attending that conference, too.
What were the chances of that?
She told me she’d been widowed for six months after her husband had passed suddenly from a heart attack. She would be attending the conference with her mom. When I told her I was a presenter she said, “Oh, you’re famous!” It isn’t true of course, but it was a nice vote of confidence.
On that flight, I came across a movie titled Roise and Frank. Filmed in Ireland, it’s the sweet story of a widow and her very special dog. It is a bit of a tear jerker, but in the best of ways. Spoiler Alert, a dog does not die at the end, quite the contrary. The dog that plays the role of Frank is remarkable and adorable. If you love dog’s and sweet stories, this movie is for you.
The movie was especially inspiring as part of my workshop will have me renewing few special dog stories of my own now as I’ll be hopefully helping other aspiring writers to tell their own stories. Everyone likes a great story, and especially for many, those that include a dog, or two.
As I’d posted here a few months ago, I believe that dogs come to us for a particular purpose and that when the time is right, so is the dog. During the span of our marriage, Rich and I were the proud guardians to three dogs, Hooper, Teddy and I will take some license here and include Quint, who came to me about 5 weeks after Rich’s passing.
Hooper, a wavy coated Portuguese water dog arrived in our lives shortly after 9-11 when I became consumed with dog fever. During the coverage of the incidents of that tragic day, I found myself watching events unfold by myself. Somehow I knew that if I’d had a dog by my side, I would’ve not felt so afraid and isolated. Rich did not want a dog, he’d had many and didn’t want to lose another. But when I “discovered” the PWD breed, Rich was on board and Hooper soon joined our household, driving our boat so to speak.
After Hooper passed, a three year-old Havanese named Teddy entered our lives despite Rich’s renewed protest of, “No more dogs!”. We fostered Teddy and then we fulfilled (not failed) our commitment to finding him the best home which just happened to be our’s.
And now, I’m heading back to San Diego where a little over a year and a half prior I’d flown out to fetch a puppy named Quint. Although Rich never got to meet “Q” as he’s called, he did get to see some photos and a video of a newborn Quint and his littermates, so in a manner of speaking, he did get to meet Q.
At the conference an Honor Tile I purchased will be part of a tile mosaic honoring those we’ve lost. Mine depicts a photo of Rich at the wheel of our former sailboat. I chose the wording, “We’re gonna’ need a bigger boat” in honor of Rich, Hooper and now Quint. I can’t wait to see it, and something tells me there may just be a Broady in my future.
Conference Note: Today I will attend 3 workshops, serve at the Presenter Table and monitor a discussion for those who’ve experienced multiple losses. I’m told that I have approximately 40 people planning to attend my workshop tomorrow. I will report in on Facebook Posts and next week’s Blog Post here! Thank you for your support and encouraging thoughts and comments. (FB PAGE LINK)
