“And Your Little Dog, Too!”

I had a very productive day –– several client calls, lots of work for my January gallery show, ending with a dinner with Susan and John and Val and Clark and Jonah and his friend and Val’s parents –– but I have to admit that I’ve been meditating non-stop on all the life lessons from this week’s single hate mail.
Basically, a “crazy” (an alcoholic with rage issues, someone I haven’t spoken to in five or six years) articulated my own worst fears about myself in incredibly inappropriate, angry, and just plain categorically wrong in every way terms.
Fortunately, things were so extreme that I could puncture how false any of these beliefs were (for me or for him or for anyone.)
And if there weren’t already 40 clues to that, the most over-the-top thing was that he wished harm not only to me, but also to my dog, Belle.
Now, there may be some legitimacy to any complaints about me … but a little chocolate lab who has never done anything but love unabashedly everyone she’s ever met …
Well, wishing ill of Belle in anyone’s book is grounds for institutionalization (if not incarceration.)
So essentially, rather than wounding or even angering me in any way, by exposing himself so flamboyantly as unstable and unreliable, I felt such enormous relief followed by joy from his ranting email.
I see now that the worst stories I might tell myself about myself in some secret, fearful way are completely untrue.
It has –- quite seriously –– altered my perspective on my most unkind interpretation of certain past events in a way that’s a global, transformative shift.
And all because someone hoped that not only would I suffer from all my (imaginary) misdeeds, but because he went way way way over-the-top and dragged an innocent pup into the mix.
So once again –– thank you, Belle, for shining your light on every dark situation, and finding a way out for both of us!