Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Raising Children VS Raising Dogs

As the owner of 3 Senior Dogs, 18, 13 and 11 (and one other that is only 6 because we had a momentary lapse of common sense) I've come to the realization that raising elderly dogs is like raising children and a little bit more added in.

The only ones who listened to me for years, were the dogs.  I could talk until I turned blue, my son would ignore me.  Now, I can talk and the dogs don't listen.  Duchess is completely deaf now, Gracie we have realized hears if she is looking at you or if you yell at her.  Nico still listens, but he has joined the world of subjective hearing.  He will hear you if you want to give him food or let him out.

You spend the first two years of your childs life picking them up when they fall down.  I'm currently picking Duchess up off of our wood floors more often than not.  Wood floors and an elderly dog don't mix well.  She may as well be walking on ice. 

When your child starts to eat, you spend time mashing everything up so its easy to swallow.  Cutting everything into tiny pieces so they don't choke.  Yep, every morning I'm adding water and canned food to bowls to help with the chewing and swallowing process. 

Remember the days of trying to get your young ones to take medicine?  Well, all I can say is the inventor of  pill pockets could be my best friend!  If you have a dog that needs medicine, these are a must have!  Just don't go with the Duck flavor!  The smell is just awful. 

We enter into the world of having children with the understanding it is a life long process.  Once a parent, always a parent.  They will make you feel love, anger, joy, and other things that you can't even put into words.  Entering into the world of owning dogs comes with the same responsibility, just a little different.

Your dog will do things that make you angry and upset.  Duchess killed a rabbit (well played with it like a toy is more accurate) the first year I was divorced and living alone.  May not sound like much unless you have heard a rabbit in distress.  Not a sound you want to hear, and who is going to get the now dead rabbit off of your porch?  Nico ate a dining room table and chairs, and a hole in our kitchen wall the first year.

But, your dog won't talk back to you.  Your dog won't say No to you.  Nor will it slam the door on you, get mad at you, or never not need you.    All a dog will do is love you and show you gratitude. 

We certainly know our time is limited.  I spend each morning paying close attention to Duchess.  Is she in pain?  Is she comfortable?  Trying to be sure we aren't being selfish and keeping her around.  She still goes out and walks the property every day.  Every now and then, she breaks into a run.  Even if after she looks perplexed as to "why the hell did I just do that?". 

I've enjoyed being a Mother, now a Grandmother.  (Ok, I will admit, writing I'm a Grandmother is a tad jolting!)  And I've enjoyed being a "Mom" to our furry family also.  We have been lucky to have the whole brood, even if I have to buy lint rollers a case at time!





Monday, August 19, 2013

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school in the county that I live.

Today is the first day of school that I didn't have a child attending in 13 years.

This was Kyle on his first day of kindergarten...


It seems like an eternity ago. 

This was two weeks ago...

 
 
It has been a long road for all of us.  School was not always an easy road for Kyle.  Or me for that matter.  Or anyone else in our family that stood behind Kyle constantly telling him that he could do it.  I wish someone had pulled me aside 13 years ago and said "You will have to fight for your child.  You will have to push your child.  You will have to push those around him to help him.  But in the end, you will have pushed him to the finish line."  If someone had said that to me, maybe I wouldn't have spent the last two years hyperventilating!
 
The person who gave the keynote speech spoke of running a marathon.  And how important it is to realize that the graduates finished.  Maybe not first, or on time, but that they held on and finished.  I felt like they were speaking directly to Kyle.  It was nice to hear validation for Kyle to have finished.  Maybe not on time, but that didn't matter.  No one will ever ask him did he graduate in June or August! 
 



 



 Congratulations to the class of 2013.  No matter when you graduated!




Friday, August 16, 2013

Hard to Believe

Hard to believe it has been 16 months since my last post.  We had a lot of personal things going on over the last year.  I found it hard to write.  So, I didn't.  But things change, time moves forward and you realize that you need to start again.  I've attempted many times to blog again, only to think where do I start now after being off for a year? I'm going to just post daily a few things that have occurred the past year, guess I will start with the most important:

We became Grandparents this year. 

Riley Elizabeth was born on March 13, 2013.  Here are a few pictures of the last few months.





If you look at the last picture you will notice my living room has become a playground.  You forget how much stuff a little person actually uses!