Since today is Barry’s birthday, I’d like to share something very private with you.

Saturday night when I went to bed, Barry said he was right behind me… but instead, he got distracted by something special.

Yesterday morning he surprised me with a video that moved both of us to tears (yes, even Barry, often seen as the big tough guy around here, has a soft side!)

It was not only heart-warming, but synchronistic on many levels, and reminded me how magical the past year has been.

During that time, as we’ve been living together permanently, I’ve gotten to know Barry intimately in many different ways, and that has allowed me to see that my original pre-conceived notions about him were a little off too.

See, we weren’t a couple when we recorded and released Masters of the Secret. We were business partners who argued as much as we synced up (that’s what often happens when two super-passionate, vision-minded and driven people collaborate on something).

And even after we fell in love, he made it clear that he didn’t really like cats (something I loved) and that he loved sports (something I didn’t care for very much).

But perhaps it’s because he’s a Leo (and his 39th birthday is today — starting his last final year in his 30s, and a time of reflection for all humans as we question what’s important or not) but he has grown to not only like, but love our two cats (Mercury, who I brought with me from Toronto, and Jupiter, who we picked out together here).

He goes out of his way to do special things for them, and only gets angry at them when they show a stubborn streak — which, I suppose, is some twisted feline version of the mirror effect since, as a Leo, he has the same feline-inspired stubbornness.

That’s probably why he connected with this video in a way that never would have phased him a year ago.

Today’s also the anniversary of the day I left a lot behind (including a city I adored and some very special cats) in order to follow my heart.

Yes, it hurt — and sometimes the saying “No pain, no gain” is true, because we have to sacrifice something we love for the greater good, or so that we can move forward in other areas.

Now we have something even more amazing coming our way in three months — a little being that we created together.

And in the course of this whole process, I’ve learned that love truly has no limits — as shown in this moving video.

Grab a box of tissues, and go to the next page to check it out:

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For the past few weeks, Barry and I have been moving into our new house (the yellow color has already grown on him, and is starting to grow on me too).

Yes, we did the bulk of it already, but there have been some smaller things that we had to go back for as we’ve been slowly settling in around our normal routine.

It has certainly disrupted our business a bit (okay, actually a lot) because we’ve had to spend so much time away from the computers, buying new things that we need, fixing things up, taking care of the yard and garden, etc…

But we love the house, the 10-foot ceilings, the expansive square footage, the yard, the huge kitchen — everything about it.

And definitely, being in a more prosperous and expansive mindset is going to help us in many more ways down the road.

A couple of days ago, while taking a quick break from moving stuff (honestly, he’s doing all the heavy lifting and I’m just helping organize and clean) we were watching our new satellite TV service and a show came on about the wildlife in Toronto.

They featured raccoons and squirrels, both of which I used to raise from babies as a foster parent for the Humane Society, whenever they were orphaned and brought in to the shelter.

Funny thing though, I just assumed the three color types of Eastern Grey Squirrel (grey, black and brindle, which is halfway between the two) were available wherever squirrels lived.

I’ve been living in Oregon for a year, and have seen many grey squirrels — and really just didn’t give it a second thought as to why I hadn’t seen black ones, because they’re so ingrained in my reality that I thought they must be here too.

Turns out, those are unique to Toronto and surrounding area, and tourists love to stop and look at the black squirrels that hang out around the provincial parliament buildings (about two blocks from where I used to live).

Barry says he’s never seen a black squirrel before in his life. Wow!

Just one more of those instances where it pays to never assume (it makes an ASS out of U and ME).

It’s amazing how we go through life with blinders at times, not really noticing what’s around us, seeing what we want to see rather than what’s there, and taking things for granted.

I’m taking a vow not to do that with our new house. I love so much about it, that I’m going to appreciate those things as much as I can.

I love to eat my breakfast out on the deck, overlooking the English style garden. I feel grateful every morning to be able to watch the birds and the flowers, and the little creek that will have water in it during the winter.

And that’s the way to enjoy life… with eyes wide open, appreciating and loving what we have, and experiencing what’s there rather than what we assume must be.

Keep Unwrapping the Mysteries of Life!

Saturday evening, Barry and I took an impromptu drive through Colonial Valley, a nearby little oasis of wildlife that we had never visited before, but had heard all about the beauty.

And it was almost as good as going to the zoo… maybe even better, because we got to see animals in their wild habitat, calmly co-existing with humans (as well as a few that were domesticated, and also co-existing with humans).

The first deer I saw, bounding along the grass towards the road we were driving on, prompted me to gasp in delight — which scared the heck out of Barry, who was driving.

Right beside him were three more deer, casually grazing beside the road. We drove by slowly, and I took a couple of pictures from the car.

Then we came across the herd pictured above — nine of them all together — and I had to get out of the car to get closer for this picture, with one of them looking right at me.

By the end of the drive we had seen 16 deer in total… all within about the span of an hour or so. Who can say they’ve gone out for a casual drive and seen 16 deer within an hour? I was pretty impressed by the whole thing.

In fact, when Barry said whoever saw the next deer would be treated to dinner, I manifested the 16th one almost immediately.  I looked around, then straight ahead, and said, “There it is… crossing the road up ahead.” And there it was.

But it wasn’t just about deer…

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Today Barry and I picked up some plastic storage boxes at Wal-Mart, and one of them had a small cardboard rectangle inside… I’m not sure what the purpose of it was, since it wasn’t cushioning anything, but it fit loosely within the perimeter of the container.

A low semi-box inside a box. Or rather, a low wall that didn’t separate anything.

Barry put the cardboard piece on the floor in the dining room… and Jupiter immediately decided that it was a good place to hang out.

She kept going in there again and again… sometimes just relaxing, and sometimes using it as a vantage point, hunting blind and launch pad to attack Mercury from whenever the latter happened to stroll by.

It seemed to me that she somehow felt this low box — this wall that doesn’t separate anything — was a place of safety and comfort.

And beyond that, she seemed to think that as long as she was INSIDE the box… nobody outside could see her, and hence Mercury wouldn’t suspect the upcoming pounce.

Of course, kids play these kinds of pretend games all the time… but when I saw my cat doing it, it made me think of how adult people remain in their comfort zones with a false sense of security.

What makes it worse when people do it is they don’t advance through life to their full potential because of this sense of security they have — whether associated with a JOB, a habit, or remaining with a life partner that is completely wrong for them because it’s “easier” and “safer” to do so.

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What does it take to make a life-long dog lover, who has always disliked cats, into a bona fide cat lover?

You have to shift his (or her) values… through the power of love.

Dr. John F. Demartini – who I interviewed for Masters of the Secret — says that everything we do, everything we notice, everything we excel at, everything we succeed at, is based on our value system.

And so is love… you can’t love what you don’t value.

But sometimes loving another person makes you look at their values in a different light. And that means a shift in values based on that love.

Earlier this week, Barry and I took Jupiter out to the park on a leash for her first journey outside. And in this picture, you can see that he has genuinely turned into a cat lover over the last six months or so… and not just our own cats, but he loves looking at cats in the pet store now, and will even take an unannounced side trip there if we happen to be driving remotely nearby.

So how did that happen, when less than a year ago he said he hated cats?

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Last night Barry and I went out for Valentine’s Day dinner.

We didn’t know where we were going to go, because by the time Barry called for reservations, everywhere was booked up (in a town of allegedly only 35,000 people — go figure!)

So we just dropped by one place that we’ve been to a few times before, and where we spent part of our New Year’s Eve too…

And wouldn’t you know it, we get the only table in town with hamsters painted on it!

This is interesting because one of the pet names that Barry calls me is Hamster… and because I gave him a silver necklace for Valentine’s Day that has a dog tag on it, engraved with a message — and part of that message is “Bear & Hamster”.

(Okay, I know these are probably supposed to be field mice and not hamsters… but they are truly the only ones in town, AND… come on, they look like hamsters!)

So not only did we manifest a nice dinner at a nice restaurant, with no reservations and when every restaurant was booked solid for weeks… but we also manifested it at a table with some symbolic meaning for us.

Never underestimate the power of thought… or what you might feel is a “coincidence”.

The word is synchronicty.

Keep Unwrapping the Mysteries of Life!

I just had a visit from a pair of chickadees outside my office window (they’re fast, but we managed to capture proof to the right).

We hung a bird feeder a few weeks back, just after I had seen a little bird hopping around the balcony beside my desk. But it seemed like we weren’t going to be getting any bird visitors this season, because it just hung there with no action at all.

Finally this morning they came, chirping and taking turns flying up to get a beakfull of seeds, then flitting away again.

So it turns out that, once again, I learn that patience is a virtue. It was definitely worth it to see the happy little birds.

And they’re my mom’s favorite bird, too… her name is Dee, and when she was little she discovered that they call her name: “Chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee”!

Just like when we’re manifesting something — we can’t expect it to show up right away.

Everything has a gestation period, and comes when the circumstances are right, not when you THINK you want it.

Apparently the gestation period for chickadees is a few weeks!

Keep Unwrapping the Mysteries of Life!

Only humans have emotions, right? And only we are affected by other people’s energy (for instance, getting into a negative mood when surrounded by others who are giving off a negative vibe)?

I would have to say 100%, unequivocally, not.

In fact, I think (or rather, FEEL) that our emotions and energies are at a basic animal instinct level… which means, obviously, that our animal friends have those same instincts.

If you’ve spent a lot of time around animals, you probably agree with that. Most people who work or play with animals on a regular basis know these phenomena, and find it even more evident than our day-to-day interactions with people.

But it’s an important lesson that we can observe simply in animals, and apply to our communications with others.

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Well, yesterday we got a second cat. A little fluffball of a kitten, actually.

Mercury is a very affectionate cat who wants attention all the time… and she’ll either get it from us, or from another cat.

Since we’re trying to run a business around here, we can’t always give Mercury the attention she wants… so that’s why we got Jupiter.

“We’ll look at some cats,” Barry said yesterday morning, “But we’re not getting the first one we see. He has to be a special cat.”

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Next week I’m going back to Toronto to move out my personal belongings from the place I shared with my husband, Wil, for over 15 years.

In some ways, it’s scary. In other ways, it’s sad.

And in still other ways, it’s inspiring. I’m moving on with my life, following my heart, following my dreams. And I need to close that part of my life in order to fully move on.

For the past several years, Wil and I bred cats; the world’s smallest cat breeds, Abitibi and Algonquin (which we developed ourselves) and Singapuras (the world’s smallest recognized breed).

A big part of me will be missing those cats, because I really loved each and every one of them. I loved watching them be born, and I loved helping to raise them. The hardest part was selling them to new owners, but it was made easier because they always loved the cats as much as we did.

There’s only one of those cats that I want to bring back with me, though. My gut instinct tells me she’s my soulmate cat, and she’s been with me many, many times over the years (at least 3 and possibly 4 or more just in this life).

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