My Gramma was full of wisdom, and love. Or maybe she was filled with love, and wisdom. Anyhow she blessed me with both. If I was headed out to a situation that might not be easy for me, someplace where there was a challenge ahead, she’d advise me, “Remember to put a little fun in your pocket.”

Her encouragement was a reminder to plan for patience, positivity, to overlook obstacles, or maybe look at them and decide to step around them, or over them instead of stubbing my emotions on them.

Her wisdom was delivered in a small, caring voice that made her words feel like a shared secret. I’ve learned there’s really no better thing to remember to put in my pocket. It takes the pressure off a situation to be perfect in order to be good. It adjusts my expectations and helps me to see that I actually have a secret weapon that I can use to change my whole outlook or approach. It provides a security that doesn’t depend on things I can’t control.

The pocket is there, the fun is in it, now it’s just up to me to “Remember," — thank you Gramma.

Last week while yurting on the Oregon coast, we were returning from a beach walk when my husband said, “Is that a kitty under that deck?” Why yes, it was a kitty and even though it ran away from us then, it found us that evening at dinner time. On her menu was: one chicken wonton, a large piece of leftover Chinese-takeout chicken, and a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Shy and skittish she dashed off between every offering. The next morning she was back and we had a can of Kippered Snacks to share with her. Now she was friendly, rubbing our legs, popping into the yurt and accepting pets and scritches. We asked the campground hosts if a lost kitty had been reported — no. We called the animal shelter — overfull and not accepting new animals. We called the next county and were told they were full and BTW they would not accept animals from other counties. We called a cat rescue and they said that they might have a home for her. It was check out time, so we bought a cat carrier, loaded her up and our quest to find her a home was on.

The cat-rescue lady was caring, knowledgeable, and perceptive enough to know that the perspective family was not a good fit. So that was that, and we set off on our three-hour drive home with a kitty our two feral rescue cats would not appreciate.

Three days of phone calls, a visit to a vaccination clinic, and lots of pets and purrs later she is set up with a really great family. Yes it was an inconvenient hassle, somewhat expensive, and filled with anxious what-do-we-do-now moments — but it was the right thing to do. It was right for her because now she will be loved and cared for and have that chance for a happy life. But it was also right for us. We have inner peace knowing where she is and who she is with and that it’s good. We also relearned some of those life lessons that we all know, but need reminders of now and then:

even though a situation can look pretty desperate for a while, if you can just hang in there most of the time it will all work out, and
when it comes to making a hard choice, there’s the easy way, and the right way — and it’s okay if the right way is hard.