The Circle of Life

Today is the Thoughtful Quilter's 5th anniversary. Five Years! I'm a senior citizen in the blogging world!

Life sometimes gets in the way when you're busy making other plans. My father's situation is worse and I have had to focus energy on taking over. I became involved in a political campaign for a candidate for House of Representatives in Kansas (state level) and I built a website for him. I maintain a Facebook page for the campaign also. I led a project to grow vegetables in a community garden 100% donated to a local food pantry for local hungry people.

I posted about Riley. Through all of this I've suffered many a day with uncomfortable and maddening perimenopause symptoms.

It's not all bad....I attended a 1-day workshop with Denyse Schmidt, a nationally known art quilter. I took a mini vacation in southern Kansas and southwest Missouri, seeing national parks and Laura Ingalls Wilder sites. We got a new car! It's a 2012 Prius with all kinds of bells and whistles...and Lord Almighty, it's red!

Starting New

What a gift to start something new, to begin. I appreciate having something to be excited about. And here she is!

Introducing Trixie! She's our new pup - she's a mini dachshund (possibly purebred) adopted from the Great Plains SPCA. She has some issues so they kept her separate from the other dogs - that's why she wasn't adopted right away. Little dogs tend to find homes fast, they say. She had been at the shelter for about 1 month.

She's slowly coming out of her shell and I think this week she finally decided we're OK. She is about 18 months old. She likes to play and snuggle and give kisses. And she's tiny - maybe 10 pounds! I wanted a little dog again, but this is really, really tiny.

She and Winnie are working out their relationship. I don't think there will be a fight, and I hope not, because Winnie could really hurt Trixie if she wanted to. They have started to play in the house and there's a lot of nipping and play biting.

Trixie has been very shy, especially around my husband. She finds refuge in her crate and she's perfectly content to stay in the crate all day. We think she must have been a puppy mill dog - she has had puppies at least once.

We are looking for a school for basic obedience for her. Taking your dog to obedience school is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your dog. You learn how to be a leader for your dog and the dog learns some basic commands that boosts his or her confidence. The dog learns how to please its leader and that's very important to a dog.  Honestly, we could probably skip it because we've been to puppy school three times with our previous dogs. We know how to train and be a leader. But I still recommend it - it's a bonding experience with your dog.

And who knows? You might learn something new!

Trixie is the dog for me now. I need tender and sweet and loving at this stage in my life. The world is so harsh and I'm marching steadily towards the second half of life (my 47th birthday is days away - Oy vey!!). The phase of loss. The phase of reconciliation. Of coming to terms with potential not realized.

Many people my age cope by their children (getting married, achieving, identifying with their health and vigor, etc.) or their grandchildren (new life, wonder, tenderness, and hope), but that is not an option for me.

These are some of the secrets of older people - learning to live with loss and becoming so much more sensitive to the small but truly important things in life.