Why the name Butterscotch Diamond?

Why the Name “Butterscotch Diamond”?

I was reading a self-help book as motivation to keep a positive attitude while I was stuck in a job that was unrewarding and frustrating. I liked my coworkers and the institution, in general, but wanted a better day-to-day environment. As I searched the job postings, and applied for many within my institution, I kept listening to self-help audio books on the drive to and from work, to help maintain a positive attitude. One book had me rolling my eyes. This particular author was a little too “out there” for me. She was very spiritual, not that I am not, but in a more woo-woo way than I. The author was a recovering alcoholic for more than 10 years and although I sometimes rolled my eyes at her ideas, I thought to myself that if she can stay sober for this long, and motivate others to do the same, God Bless her!

In one chapter the author described how she sought the help of her spiritual advisor to aid in a search for a new home, a search on which she and her husband were about to embark. The advisor told her to look for her symbol, and when she would see it in the prospective home, that would be a good omen. The author was not entirely sure about this, as she didn’t already have a signature symbol. The spiritual advisor told her to just select one that might mean something to her. The author decided upon an eagle, I believe. The story went on to say that the author and her husband kept searching, through many properties, for the symbol of the eagle in every prospective home, and were disappointed to not find such a sign. Then, after viewing a home they liked, they went to a nearby coffee shop to discuss the property. It sounded like they were giving up on the idea of finding the symbol of the eagle, and they liked the home a lot. When they departed the coffee shop, a car had parked next to theirs. On this car was a large image of an eagle, one that the couple could not miss. The author took this as the sign the spiritual advisor had instructed her to find, and decided this meant they should buy the home they’d just toured. The author indicated that she and her husband did make the move and they were very happy in the new home. I rolled my eyes, but thought, good for them. A bit too woo-woo for me, however.

A week later when I was leaving my parking garage to enter my office building I noticed that someone had dropped a small diamond stud earring. It was the kind that one wears secondary to the main hole in the ear lobe, tiny, but probably a real diamond. I picked it up, took it into my office, sanitized it, and looked for the person who lost it. There was no notice in the lost and found, or anyone in the building looking for it. I left it on the counter in my office waiting for someone to mention they’d lost a diamond earring stud. Four days after that I had to attend a training session in a lecture hall on campus. It was a long, dull session. The room was dark. I shifted in my seat and tried to lean forward to stretch, but not let the presenter know how bored I was. As I leaned forward I noticed something glistening under the seat in the row ahead of me. In the darkened lecture hall, the canned ceiling lights could really throw a spotlight on something. In this location the light was on a huge cubic zirconia, or Austrian crystal, shaped exactly like a diamond solitaire that would have been 4 or 5 carats. It likely fell out of someone’s ornate handbag or costume jewelry. I picked it up, and with absolutely nobody within 15 seats of me, just dropped it into my purse pocket and forgot about it.

The night after finding the solitaire I decided that I would visit an animal shelter, one whose website I’d been perusing. I’d lost my beloved cat of 14 years 3 weeks earlier and made the grave error of looking on the shelter’s website. I wasn’t going to get another cat. My allergist would have preferred this. But, my heart was broken and I thought I might want an elder cat. An older cat could be a companion for a while, but might not still be around when I retire and want to move across the country. On the website I saw a couple cats that had been at the shelter a very long time, and I thought that one of them might as well be hanging out at my house, if we clicked. So, I set off to visit the shelter after work. The shelter volunteers gave me time to look around, as I’d already filled out an application and received permission to adopt. As I was looking into cages that were eye level to me, there was a very loud little cat with a persistent meow that reached her paw out of her cage and grabbed my leg. I looked down at her and she looked right into my eyes and started talking to me. The volunteer asked me if I wanted to sit alone in a room with her and get to know her, and I agreed. She wasn’t one of the cats I’d been considering on the website. But, her estimated age was 12 years, and I knew she wouldn’t be on to be adopted quickly. I entered the little room with the cat, named Rory because of her distinctive meow that sounded like a roar. Rory spent some time checking out the room, but it wasn’t long before she was sitting in my lap and purring. I thought, “wow, what a nice little cat!” I adopted her and listened to a constant and loud meow the whole hour-long ride home. She has a million different sounding meows and has never stopped using her voice. It’s been quite an adjustment living with such a vociferous cat. What I didn’t realize at first, is that Miss Rory has a spot on top of her head, between the eyes, that is the color of caramel, or butterscotch, and is in the shape of a diamond. This is the third “diamond” to appear in my life in a short period of time.

A week after Rory moved in, I received a response to my application for an internal job posting. The job was quite specifically something I’d wanted to do, not just an opportunity to get me out of a bad department. In a week’s time I had interviewed, been offered, and accepted the job. The situation seemed meant to be, and several months later, I am very much enjoying my new coworkers, the department, and all that is involved in the job. Had I known to look for diamonds along the way, I would have known that good changes were coming. For as much as I rolled my eyes when the book author described her symbol and how it tied to karma, I now am very willing to consider that the diamond is my symbol that “the universe” will place in my path to guide me.

As you might guess, the butterscotch diamond on Rory’s head is my very favorite of the three diamonds. Rory loves to sit in my lap and consume all the adoration I have for her. She came into my life to show me that good things are coming and I have to trust in that. This blog is to document my creative journey, but it’s also a question. Retirement is not all that far away for me, but long enough away that I have time to create the best scenario for myself. However, I am not sure what that is, or how I’m going to get there. I’m not afraid of the work it will take to get there. It’s just that right now I am not sure what that looks like, and I’m kicking around a lot of ideas in my head. Will retirement be a part-time office job in another city for a few years, or will it be a jump into a creative career? I am going to look for the diamonds along the way to guide me as I make decisions for the future.