Adapt and Adjust

One year ago, my sister moved in with us with her black lab, Dudley. We have no pets, so it was an adjustment suddenly having a dog living with us. Two of my kids took some time warming up to Dudley, but my youngest took immediately to him. Dudley, being from California was getting use to the Connecticut weather and surroundings. He had woods to run around in and had to adjust to the wild turkeys and deer roaming freely across our property. It really was an adjustment for everyone. One night, I was having dreams of skunks. At one point I woke up and wondered if a skunk had sprayed right outside the master bedroom. In the morning, I went downstairs and wow the smell of skunk seemed to be getting stronger. I called out to my sister and she and Dudley came upstairs from the finished basement. The smell of skunk almost knocked me over at that point! I looked at my sister and said, "why does Dudley and our entire house smell like skunk?" Her eyes grew wide and she realized that when she had taken Dudley out for his midnight potty break, that he must have been sprayed at that time. She said that he had seemed spooked when he ran back to her. You see, she has such bad sinus problems, that she can't smell anything!! She had spent the entire night cuddling Dudley to calm him down, not realizing that he was reeking of skunk. My dreams had been correct, our house had been skunked. Over night while Dudley was in the basement, the smell of skunk went up through the ventilation system, penetrating every area of our three story home. When my husband ran out to get coffee that morning, the waitresses looked around and said, "what is that smell?" "That's me," my husband responded. We all smelled of skunk for days. My kids lunch boxes were banned from the school and had to sit outside the classrooms. Luckily, they were still allowed in school, even though their friends said they smelled. My kids were pretty resilient and did not take it too personally. It was quite an ordeal and it took weeks to get the skunk smell down to a minimum. According to Ted Andrews in the book Animal Wise, "When the skunk appears, opportunities will open to bring self-esteem and respect." I love the book Animal-Speak. It is a great resource regarding messages, signs and symbols from animals. The overall message was clear enough. We all had to adjust to the changes in our lives. The line in the movie Forest Gump says it best, "when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade." We eventually all had a good laugh over the experience and Dudley will hopefully steer clear of skunks. Poor Dudley had a lot to adjust to as well. He had to cope with numerous tic bites, Lyme disease and my then three year old trying to ride him like a horsey. All changes in life come with adjustments and stresses, that's just part of new experiences. The lesson in Dudley and the skunk.........when changes occur in your life, expect the unexpected and learn to adapt and adjust.