Getting What You Need

"You can't always get what you want....
You can't always get what you want....
You can't always get what you want....
But if you try sometimes, you just might find...
You get what you need."   -Rolling Stones

Yesterday proved to be an interesting day for me although on the surface everything seemed to be average and mundane.  Nothing much out of the ordinary occurred. As a matter of fact, Monday remained normal for the majority of the day.  I cleaned house, visited with my father, did some baking, took care of the children....the same stuff I do every day.  However, last night an unusual thing happened, actually two unusual things.  I am still thinking about them today, thus explains this particular blog entry.

The first extraordinary thing came in the form of a kitten who waltzed into our house as if she owned the joint.  My daughter opened the door to the garage and this gorgeous three month old kitty of obviously mixed parentage, daintily stepped across our doorway, gazed at us with a serious expression and proceeded to make herself at home.  She checked out the food dish, had a tasty sip of water, swished her tail authoritatively and curled up on the rocker like she had been there her entire life.  The five of us just looked at eachother...a bit in awe of this spunky, fearless cat and all equally unsure of what to do with her. 

The kids of course immediately fell in love with this adorable creature and began begging their father and I to be allowed to keep her.  I knew I would say yes, and looked at my husband, a total non-pet person, to discover his opinion on the subject.  He amazed me by saying yes without the remotest hesitation.  Seriously???  Jorgen said yes?  Flabbergasted doesn't even begin to explain how I felt.  I mean, really, this is the man who threatened divorce if I brought another animal into the house, and I actually think he consulted a lawyer when I brought Gus (our ill-mannered lout of a dog) home.  I honestly couldn't believe how easy it turned out to be.  I took my husband's acquiesence as a sign that this cat, for some reason, chose us and we were meant to be together.  When later that night, she slept on my lap, purring and humming that sweet cat sound, it made me feel special to have been chosen by Genevieve (the name the children bestowed upon her).  I didn't necessarily want another cat, but maybe I needed one and maybe she needed me too.

Unusual thing number two that happened yesterday turned out to be a phonecall from someone I had thought about all day long.  I had been thinking of this person for no good reason, but every time I had a quiet moment, the thought of him would appear in my head.  We had had a falling out of sorts earlier, but that wasn't the reason I had him on my mind.  I didn't know if he would ever contact me again , and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to be contacted.  Nonetheless, yesterday my thoughts regarding this person were purely concerned with his well-being and with hope that life currently treated him kindly.  Then, out of the blue that night, I got a phone call.  He had had an incredibly bad day for a variety of reasons and just needed to talk to someone who would listen.  Almost three hours later, our friendship mended and his mood somewhat improved, I realized that what had just occurred signified something amazing too.  I am not a believer in coincidences and I don't think he thought to call on his own.  I think circumstances led to it, and although I didn't necessarily want to talk to him right then, maybe I needed to and he needed to as well.

Anyway, both those incidents made me think that a great deal of life consists of not getting what you want, but moreso getting what you need.  Half the time, us humans are so oblivious to what's really important in our lives that we don't see what we need.  We only focus on what we want.  We desire things, we crave to fill our lives with people and material goods, we think we know what would make us happy and we try everything to get it.  But then, when we least expect it, serendipity, fate, the universe...whatever you call it, grants us exactly the the thing we need the most.  We may choose not to recognize this when it happens, but trust me, it occurs all the time.  And thank goodness it does, because in the immortal words of the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find...you get what you need."