Life's Lemons & Lemonade

It's been seven months since my last blog post and in that time my family have gone through a few changes, the most noticeable one and one that was utterly heart breaking for all of us was the loss of our beloved, Max after two weeks illness and two operations. Now, this is not going to be a sad post - I think those of you that follow me on Facebook will have had more than enough of those.

Max was my companion for 11 1/2 years. He sat and dozed next to me in the shed as I wrote seven books. He interrupted me every so often wanting to go for a walk, a wee, or for something to eat and it made me step away from the laptop and ensure that I was also present in the real world as well as in my imaginary one. Whenever I wasn't at work he was with me, or walking on the beach with Rob. I've posted many pictures of him on this site and even now, two months after he died, I can't type this without crying. Sigh, I really need to stop this!

Days after Max died when I was in the very depths of my heartbreak, panic and loss, a very wise man suggested I think about getting another dog. I thought he was completely mad and told my husband what he'd said, which was that I had a huge amount of love to give a pet/companion and although I couldn't save all the dogs needing loving homes out there, I could save one. Rob looked up The Company of Dogs, a charitable non-profit making group in Jersey who rescue dogs from Spain's kill stations and bring them home - after they've been given health checks, been chipped, etc - and try to place them with forever homes. We saw pictures of Jarvis Leviticus, Zachariah Wilkinson!!! on their site, were home checked by them, and adopted him.

I was very nervous about bringing another dog into my home. I'd only ever had puppies before and what if he didn't like us, or if I couldn't get used to him after spending so many years used to one dog that I adored. We needn't have worried. He fitted in here very quickly and although he's taller than Max and so can reach items on the kitchen table... and it's like living with an excitable toddler who's woken up and found himself in a sweetshop, he is utterly adorable. He'll never take the place of my beloved Max, but he's his own character and already I can see that we made the very best decision when we adopted him.

So, you see, this post might have had the occasional wobble, but it ended up being a happy one!