"Fate" stepped in on my NOGD to be... 8>(

[Don Lampson]

After years of reading the AGF classifieds like a novel, I saw a guitar that looked like it would prezactly what a picker just like me should have! I was surprised nobody had already bought it? Eureka!

I sent the seller a message to exchange phone numbers to arrange a deal. I was filled with warm & fuzzy feelings about a possible new guitar... However, things can change in a heartbeat...

Our cat was attacked by something, (I suspect a coyote?) and our household was thrown into a crisis... For three days, my partner nursed the poor thing, and shuttled her on 40+ mile trips to the Vet. In the end, "Spooky" was just bit up too bad, and full of infection... We had to put her down. It was a sorrow filled, expensive campaign that failed, but life goes on.........

I spent over half of my "mad money for an unexpected guitar" fund, on Vet bills, and sort of wonder if the event was some kind of an "omen" about me buying the guitar? What if the deal was somehow "cursed", by Spooky's untimely, and grizzly death? Of course, the potential seller had nothing to do with Spook's tragic end. I'd be the new owner of the "dream box", but what if I get a case of the mullie gullies from ugly memories while playing it?

I feel like I'm on the horns of a dilemma? I still thing it would be a wonderful guitar, but I'm going to ponder this possible purchase for a couple of days, to see what fate decides. If he hasn't sold the guitar by then, perhaps any of my superstitious reservations will be gone?

Don

[Brucebubs]

Sorry to hear about your cat.
I've always wanted a Gibson SJ-200 but for some strange reason whenever I get close to being able to even consider one ... something in life gets in the way.
It's like something out there stopping me.
I may never own one.

Don, get the guitar!
There's no such thing as omens, curses or fate and superstition exists only in the mind.
Guitars and people like us who want to play them are real.
Go with reality and get your guitar.

[Napman41]

Was it a black cat ? I wouldn't worry and I'd buy the guitar. Now if some strange phenomenon was to happen like the sun getting extinguished or it fades to black I'd run for the hills and never look back.

[fazool]

Sorry to hear about your loss. We're big pet people and bigger cat people so I can appreciate the magnitude of your loss.

Money is fleeting, losing it trying to save a loved one's life is IMO never a question. Don't agonize in hindsight that it didn't work. It was the right decision, IMO.

[buddyhu]

Sorry about the loss of your pet.

I think there is something about loss (especially sudden loss) that changes us. Sometimes the change in us is temporary, sometimes we are permanently changed by loss.

I personally don't have a lot of experience with omens, but I know people who do find little cosmic signposts as they move through life. For me, it is merely about meeting each moment freshly, and as skillfully as I can. Some moments carry a lot of depth and intensity....

I think your plan to wait a few days is a good one, regardless of whether the circumstances represent some type of omen. Just some time to allow you to settle into who you are becoming.

[reeve21]

I'm really sorry about your cat, Don. We are a pet family, too, and every time we lose one it is hard-- and your circumstances are especially difficult.


Not being superstitious myself, I see no relationship between the loss of your pet and the possible acquisition of a dream guitar--except perhaps the financial question--but I'm not the one who named his cat Spooky

Wishing you well no matter how you decide on the guitar!

[blue]

I don't know if fate is stepping in to stop you getting the guitar, but your priorities have certainly been clarified for you! Our old pug had life threatening kidney stones recently. Definitely cost a guitar to fix him up. Not doing so was NEVER an option.

[martingitdave]

Sorry to hear about your cat. Pets become important parts of the family for sure. Hopefully, a solution will present itself. In the meantime, I'm most pleased to read that you have such an excellent perspective on the situation and made the right decisions for your partner and family.

A similar situation happened to me when I was younger. My fiance (now wife) and I, and her two cats, had moved into a new apartment together. I was young and eager to buy one of the newly released Ford Mustang coupes. I had saved my money and driven a "beater" for years to pay for it. Shortly thereafter, my wife's oldest cat, who was absolutely hostile to me, but dear to my wife, developed feline cancer. She could not bear to put the cat down. The surgery and vet bills amounted to $10,000. I paid it. We've been together 15 years, and the cat lived an addition 10 of those years. She, and her cat, came first.

I still don't have a Ford Mustang. But, I don't really miss it. Plus, we live in Chicago now and it snows too much for rear wheel drive. :-)

Peace

[Don Lampson]

Originally Posted by Napman41

Was it a black cat ? I wouldn't worry and I'd buy the guitar. Now if some strange phenomenon was to happen like the sun getting extinguished or it fades to black I'd run for the hills and never look back.

Yep! Spooky was black as the ace of spades... Of course, that would never effect the sun in any way, would it? HawHawHaw!

Don

[Jim Owen]

Hi Don,

I'm very sorry to hear of your loss.

I think you need to give yourself a bit of time to think before buying that guitar, not because I think some sort of omen was at work, but because grief can be quite unpredictable.

There are always other guitars.