I saw online somewhere a post that said, “You should chase your dreams, but sometimes your dreams chase you.” And that’s what editing this book feels like. Love to write, but boy those deadlines start looming like maybe they’re holding a knife.

It’s not really so bad, actually, but as intentionally as I set aside time to work on book stuff, real life rears its ugly head and derails my plans. This last week, my little dog Daniel hurt his leg and has been all out of sorts. With dogs, it’s hard to know exactly what’s wrong. Our two dogs are schnoodles, siblings from the same litter. Daniel was the runt so he gets sick more often than his sister. He gets ear infections like a hobby and often deals with bouts of pancreatitis.

This time, I think it’s just getting old. They’re ten now, eleven in the fall. We have a tall bed that they like to jump on and off and I think the down is getting harder for them both. And before you all come at me with pitchforks and torches, we DO have doggy stairs, it’s just that they’re too stubborn/scared/dumb to use them. I’ve seen the girl dog, Sophie, use them a couple times when her back hurts, but Daniel prefers the current method of me carrying him everywhere. For a while, he was so pained that he wouldn’t even let us pick him up, so we were literally carrying him around on his bed or a pillow, like he was the king. Which he is.

He’s on a whole pharmacy of doggy meds but he is showing improvement. He lets me pick him up now, and today he met me at the door which means he got off the sofa by himself. Big steps for a little guy! And last night, he shook the whole family by jumping up onto the bed on his own. Did he regret it? Yes. But that definitely shows he’s feeling more himself.

I was so worried the first couple days that I stayed home with him for three days straight and worked myself into a flare from lack of sleep and general anxiety. My best wishes to all of you who have human children, but it’s hard to imagine loving anything as much as I love these dogs, which is how you know I’m a TRUE millennial.

Anyway, here’s a picture of them from a Tahoe trip:

Hug your pets for me. Tell them I said hey.