Expectation is an interesting thing and can be at the core of great joy or great disappointment and sorrow. It’s all in the mind. In the past I would create all kinds of scenarios in my head, usually about how a relationship might unfold, and then be bitterly disappointed when nothing happened. I could have saved myself the emotional roller coaster simply by letting go of the mental construct of expectation, trying to plot the outcome and just let it unfold naturally. This was beautifully illustrated earlier this year on my trip to the UK. I stayed with a friend I hadn’t seen for about 15 years, we worked for the same company back then and became friends over a mutual love of gin and tonics. She picked me up at Heathrow and we drove back to her place in Berkshire. Her home is beautiful. Liz and her husband and two boys have a big English house and white pebble stone driveway. As I looked out the kitchen window I could see a large grassy field, almost the size of a soccer field, it even had goals. It was great to see Liz and recount all the names and faces we could remember from years gone by. As I admired the property from the kitchen window, Liz told me that a family of deer has been visiting them for years, around this time. Her family has watched the deer family grow up and vice versa. I love Deer. She said “maybe they will make an appearance for you, they are usually around at this time of year”. So of course for the remainder of my stay I would expectantly look out the window, morning and night, hoping to see Deer. “They come right up to the window sometimes” Liz delighted in telling me. Well, the day came for me to leave and catch a train up to Manchester and no Deer. Liz kindly took me to the station after we had a delicious breakfast of scones and cream. I had been on the train for about 30 minutes when I received a text message from Liz “guess who turned up in the garden just now.” The damn deer! I couldn’t believe it. It was like they were rubbing my face in it. They could have waited a day or two but no, it was less than half an hour and they were in the garden, noses against the window. I mean jeez! I stewed over this for several hours, wondering why. My intentions had been pure. I just wanted to see Deer. I love Deer. I adore Deer. But Oh Dear, No Deer! But the story didn’t end there. A little voice told me to just wait and see. In Manchester, I stayed with another friend with whom I had worked in Australia. During the next week I rested, did lots of Reiki self healing, meditated, wrote in my Gratitude book and enjoyed looking around Sale, where I was staying. Sunday morning, Louise came into the lounge room where I was having a cup of tea and asked “would you like to go to Dunham Massey today?” I said “sure. What is it?” She replied “it’s a Deer Park not far from here where we can park the car and walk around the grounds and see the Deer up close, hundreds of them all roaming around freely! There are no fences at all, we could even touch them.” We went, we saw, we almost touched, they were within reaching distance as they crossed the path. So you see, sometimes life gives us what we want in different ways and sometimes it is even better than we envisaged once we let go of expectations.