Happy Pi Day and happy first day of daylight savings time! It is a beautiful day and I'm so happy that daylight savings time has arrived bringing with it later daylight hours. Earlier today, the girls and I headed out to celebrate the day with both a savory pie and a sweet pie. One of our local pizza shops, Toarmina's, offered a deal on pizza today and Grand Traverse Pie Company always offers a free slice of pie with a purchase on March 14 and I couldn't resist partaking of both of those deals. So we loaded up the car and took a drive. With a pizza and pie slice in hand, we stopped at a local park and enjoyed a little picnic. This hadn't been the original plan for the day. I was prepared to do some meal prep today and enjoy lunch at home, but for reasons I will explain shortly, those plans changed.
While I had plans for a productive day around home with a house that needs cleaning, dishes that need washing, and laundry that needs doing, today has gone off track for a couple of reasons and none of those things have gotten done. And that got me thinking about the realities of life that don't often get shared because they aren't fun adventures. But they are part of the realities of life.
The reality is that it has been a long, exhausting week. And last night added to that exhaustion. Because the reality of life is that I'm caring for an older dog and that being someone's care giver can be a lot of work. Not every day is hard, not every day leaves me exhausted. But sometimes you have a bad week or a bad day or a bad night...and sometimes those all culminate in the need for a day of rest. And that is what today became, my day of rest.
Earlier this week, we put together Maddie's new stroller. The hope is that this stroller will allow me a little more freedom to get out and be active without having to leave Maddie behind. Because right now any adventures with Maddie require adjustments. She can't keep up with Peaches, she just isn't physically able. And that's okay. She's nearly 15 years old and her crazy years are behind her. I'm okay with doing things at her pace sometimes, but to slow down our lives every time just isn't fair to Peaches.
In the same way that it isn't fair to Peaches to slow down all of our adventures, it is also not fair (and maybe not even completely safe) to leave Maddie behind alone for very long to take Peaches out with me. So the hope is that this stroller will help alleviate some of those issues...and my stress and feelings of guilt for not being able to do everything I can to make sure they are both happy and safe.
When I got the stroller assembled and Maddie willingly climbed in, I considered that a huge victory. The fact that she sat down and let me push her was an even bigger success. But the stroller is a work in progress for her and is going to take time, patience, and practice. It is not going to be easy. It is going to take work. She is unsure and a bit anxious around new things and this is definitely new to her. She's also very stubborn! But with some minor adjustments to the stroller to give her a little better footing(she currently slides around a bit and that concerns her) and with time, I am hoping we can do more.
Of course, the stroller won't be used on all of our adventures because some days a girl needs the freedom to walk and sniff to her heart's content. And honestly, even though her body can't handle long walks, she still needs the physical activity and mental stimulation she gets from her walks. Because without them, our nights can be very restless.
So we will still be taking walks through the woods like we always have. The girls especially enjoyed the walk we took at Anderson Park earlier this week because we haven't been there all Winter long. The smells were so good that Peaches didn't even mind that we were moving slowly or that we did the same small loop twice. After a slow, meandering mile walk, Maddie was ready to head back to the car to head home. So we did just that.
The best thing about this walk is that when we got home, I was able to give Maddie her dinner and then leave and take Peaches for another walk around the neighborhood without Maddie worrying about us leaving her home. She is always so worried that she's going to miss out on an adventure! When Peaches and I got home, Maddie was relaxing on her bed and Peaches was happy to have gotten an extra adventure. Of course, when I fed Peaches dinner, Maddie was sure she hadn't eaten in days so she got a little watermelon added to her bowl as a treat and then both girls settled in and snuggled up for the evening.
Even with some adventures and fun games, Maddie's sleep schedule has been a struggle lately. She has been waking up two or three times each night to potty or get a drink or both, and she requires a helping hand on and off the bed and extra support going down the two steps to get outside. So every time she is up, so am I. Those nights of interrupted sleep can make things tough and multiple nights in one week is exhausting. But when she crawls under the covers and snuggles up next to me after one of her trips outside, I just smile because I know how much she loves me and appreciates what I am doing for her.
Friday evening we got out for our second adventure in the stroller. I was glad that Vanessa joined us and we could test out how things would work with an extra set of hands on a little longer adventure. The beginning of our walk was a bit of a struggle because Maddie didn't want to stay in the stroller, so we allowed her to spend time both in and out of it for a bit. Finally, we were able to get her comfortable and make some good time with her sitting nicely, but that ended and the last portion of our walk was more stressful as she was anxiously panting and I forced her to stay in the stroller so we could get back to the car more quickly. We completed a 3 mile walk that night and most of the time she was in the stroller, so once again, I'd say that was a success. And with all of the extra activity and excitement, she had her best night's sleep in awhile that night.
Saturday, we got out for another nice hike on the North Country Trail in Battle Creek. We hiked 7.5 miles total, a large portion of that through Ott Biological Preserve, Kimball Pines, and Historic Bridge Park.
With Maddie comfortably in the car with a Kong stuffed with her food, we were able to travel at a nice pace and Peaches loved this walk. There was so much for her to sniff and so many new areas to explore. Boy was she happy to get out and take a roll in the grass too!
The weather was perfect and this was one of the best days of hiking we've had on the trail this year.
I had never been in Ott Biological Preserve and I really enjoyed that portion of the trail. We will definitely be adding this to our list of places to return for future hikes.
After a nice walk through the woods, we returned to the car to get Maddie our for the final portion of our walk along the trail for the day. She and Vanessa were happy to be out enjoying the day together. Maddie did a great job going strong for the entire mile at the end of our walk.
With that final mile, we had completed a total of 7.5 miles on the trail for the day and had completed the last of the miles we needed to finish our goal of hiking all 58 miles of the NCT in Calhoun County. We celebrated our accomplishment by making a trip to Mooville for ice cream which was enjoyed by all.
Next week we will continue our journey and have plans to complete the final 9 miles we need to complete the 13 miles of trail through Kalamazoo County
After our busy Saturday, I had hoped for a good nights sleep for all of us, but that was not meant to be. Apparently all of our time in the woods fired up my allergies and I struggled to fall asleep. Then Maddie was up at 5am, which is later than her normal for her first potty break, thankfully. She and Peaches ate breakfast and then headed back to bed, but she was restless and up again at 6am. I had hoped to fall asleep again after that, but laid there awake wishing for more sleep which did not come. By 9am I was exhausted and had the beginnings of a headache, so I laid down and fell asleep for about an hour. But boy was I out of sorts for most of the day. And so here we are at the end of the day, having accomplished little of what I had planned. But that's okay.
Sometimes things in life are hard, sometimes they don't go as planned. Sometimes caring for someone else is difficult, but in the end it is worth every lost minute of sleep and every worry because of the joy that Maddie brings to my life. She is one of the most loving creatures I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and I feel privileged to be the person to care for her at this stage in her life. While she has several health issues, she is still a happy girl who enjoys life and new adventures, seeing her friends and meeting new people. She is a special girl and we're going to keep making the most of each day, slowing down when we need to, and letting go of things that are out of our control.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.