Curt Canada- Personal Development Coach

First just let me say that I personally dislike and I am uncomfortable at scheduling and showing occupied properties . I guess I will just have to get over it or make sure I ask the listing agent all conceivable questions i.e are their animals in the house, persons at home, recent communication if scheduling has changed. Anyway, Our buyers had requested to see this house and so we went through all the procedures of calling the listing agent to coordinate scheduling. We arrived at the property with the buyers and all of a sudden we here dogs barking in the house. I mentioned to my wife that I don't think we should enter this place especially after first knocking on the door repeatedly and then waiting for about four minutes. Our buyers sort of looked rather puzzled. Surprisingly enough a little dog peaked his head out beneath the curtain. My wife opened the door in which I had reluctantly remarked , who in their right mind would leave their dogs at home without a sitter or? The house was definitely occupied with three little frightened little doggies. A strange emotion came over me that signaled that we were not alone and someone else was there. The buyer and my wife started there incline up the staircase and all of a sudden a door abruptly closes. I noticed that they quickly had walked back down the stairs. I inquired as to what had happened. They chuckled a little that their was someone smoking "weed". We all managed to leave safely and I started wonder all the "what if questions" , you know what they are? Anyway this man comes out the door about five minutes later and looks at us. I then mentioned that we were real estate agents and had been told that no one would be at home and it was ok to show the property. He said very little if anything. Perhaps he was somewhat buzzed? I' m sharing this story with you because there were stop lights that went on in mind in the beginning of this experience and I think if this ever happens to you that you will consider rescheduling or at least call the listing agent back. Simply, who knows what would have happened if they had surprised this character? Even though there were four of us , unsuspected inhabitants should rattle anyone! What do you think? I ethically plan on speaking with this listing agent!

About one year ago around 2:15 am we were suddenly awakened by our alarm system and an unknown sound in our basement. Adrenaline shot me across the room and into the living room. I'm thinking about what should I do. I managed to give my wife a few instructions so that we would be on the same page. The next five minutes seemed like eternity. We had no specific plan for such occasion and so we were all over the place. We managed to get ourselves together while speaking with the alarm company's call center. The police were on the way! I would say that it seemed lightyears before someone showed up. However i think the police were at our house within 10 minutes! They meandered through the house while we stood shivering and crying on the front porch due to the fact that everything had turned out in our favor. We didn't sleep that well the rest of the night but we were thanking God and our lucky stars about our decision to purchase an extremely loud security alarm. I don't even have to tell you about what happened next! No, not another break-in. We went through the next month if I can recall reliving that moment, waking up prematurely in the middle of the night (PTSD). Now I know personally what our soldiers have gone through 1000s of times more than my security alarm. Here comes the good part of this story. My wife started bringing up the four-legged friend, man's best friend. Honey we must get a dog and one very soon. I will admit my reluctance because I didn't want a dog! Too much work and well I never had a dog. Last February give or take two weeks, the dog story came up; well you know, she had been looking at doggie websites since that break-in. I wandered through three websites where we came upon a dog that looked us both in the face. I sized him up, he looked like he had a bark and reminded me of a setter . I saw the spark in my wife's eye when she noticed that affirmative look on my face. She mentioned to me to read his story, I did, he had been left at an abandoned farm somewhere in West Virginia, and to top it off he had found a home at a kill shelter , if you know what i mean, his days were numbered!It said that he would be put down by the end of the week. We emailed this rescue group right away called "Homeward Trails"- surprisingly enough, this guy called us back later that evening. He gave us the dog owner talk. We were right away set up for an appointment to get the lowdown on the dog and about who we were. I'm thinking all the time ,we're getting a dog, to live in the house, and all the other things that dogs do. His name in the beginning was "Droopy." That name ended the first week. my wife asked if I could think of a name for our new friend. I pondered for about thirty minutes and yelled out to her, he ought to be lucky we chose him over all the other dogs we looked at that evening on the doggie sites. Lucky looked mean in the picture because he was hungry, tired, lonely, and forgotten. Some family or person had left him for dead! He comes with a whole batch of trauma. He barks occasionally and is content at being a new addition to our family. It has been a year now since rescuing Lucky. This week is Luckydog's Birthday ,now and forevermore! I guess someone was looking out for Lucky, Barbara,and I that night!

Reading Resource

http://www.homewardtrails.org/ great organization/ read about how you can support this mission!

http://www.animalworldnetwork.com/bsurpetstat.html grueling statistics regarding abandoned dogs and cats and other animals.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml find out more about Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder and Treatment

Perhaps, it's just my imagination but as I surveyed the blog entries on Active Rain, there were very few comments from blog posts! There's 136,195 members and growing? What's up ? Other members have invested an enormous amount of time? You would think that somebody would leave them a comment or Hello!? Perhaps it's just my observation?

we are living and working in a climate of fear, speculation, stress, uncertainty, lack, and "a i got to get mine attitude. Building depicts our willingness to create and strenghten relationships despite our personal and economic challenges! Our neighbors, customers,and fellow colleagues are struggling to make ends meet. We are the positive energy that negates negativity! That's what we do , "Build communities." Don't we?

It seems that everyone has something to write about these days and that's rather healthy. I sat down last evening to inventory my blog submissions to ascertain whether I had kept up with my initial theme. My readers were told back in April of 2008 that I would write about those human interest stories that were positive in nature, articles about overcoming personal challenges, tips and suggestions to help each of us. The overall objective had to do with striving to reach our highest potential. I set out to aspire and to inspire others in their day to day struggles! I anticipated a deluge of comments ! This hasn't happened at all and that's one reason why I have chosen to ask for your valuable input. I want to highlight your accomplishments that do not necessarily make it on the front page of our daily newspapers! I can only to do this if you help me get outside of my head . That's exactly why I ‘ve returned to "Back to Basics". Your comments , stories, questions, successes, and challenges are vital . Finding Your Zenith is an "about you " blog! Let me know how you're coping in an uncertain economy. Give me something to write about! I would like to know how I can help you set goals and reach them! How bad is it out there for you in your communities and households? How are you managing stress? What role does prayer and meditation play in your life? Why clipping coupons can stretch your personal dollars? In addition, I would love to hear from my current viewers also ! ( You're invited to read my blog at www.23fifty2.wordpress.com to catch up on this entry) (feel free to leave a comment )

Curt Canada MSW a graduate of both The University of Iowa and The American University provides personal growth coaching at Finding Your Zenith in Washington DC. Go to www.findingyourzenith.com for further information! My wife and I (Barbara) are real Estate Agents with Keller Williams -DC)