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SALTY DOG

Have you ever had an experience where your thoughts made themselves happen before your very eyes? Remember that old saying “life imitates art” - well, recently, it did just that.  

I had been sketching from a photo of my husband I’d taken a few years ago. I liked the way he was leaning on his cane yet he had a jaunty swagger about him. I suddenly thought I should paint him as a seafaring man standing beside the ocean. So, I began a pastel painting. The title kept running through my mind “Salty Dog” - so, as I worked on it that concept influenced all my design choices, color, composition, and the mood I wanted to create.

After a day of painting and photographing my adjustments as the piece developed, I decided to come back to it the next day, after a night’s sleep, to see it with fresh eyes. I woke up thinking about it and the name Salty Dog continued to talk to me in my head. It was raining so I worked a few hours on it before I took my dog Lolly on her morning walk. The rain stopped about 10 a.m., so we went into the neighborhood. After a while, turning a corner, up ahead came a man and his beagle-like dog. He stepped aside, yet Lolly and his dog pulled their leashes to sniff each other and say hello. We smiled and went on our way. Fifteen minutes later rounding a corner came the same man and dog. Lolly was happy to encounter them again and we allowed our dogs to sniff their greetings. He laughed and said she usually gets so excited it scares away older dogs.  As he turned and walked away, I looked up from Lolly and saw the back of his t-shirt said “Salty Dog Cafe” …Austin.

I was stunned, those words had been running through my mind for two days. I didn’t know there was such a place in Austin.   It was as though Rene was saying, from the beyond, thanks for painting me and it’s all good.

My husband passed away four years ago. We had been together 40 years. Some of his favorite memories and stories were from his days as a commercial fisherman. In many ways he truly was an “old salt.” And, he was a huge dog lover.

Because art gets us in the “zone” when we create, who knows what dimensions of reality we may be blending with, or triggering. Clearly, coincidences can happen…but in a city of a million people how likely is that? I’m just grateful that the universe gave me a wink and a nod that morning. 

Synchronicity is defined as “the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.” 

Stay curious, and remain inspired, my friends. Who knows what may turn the corner in your life.