November 26, 2010

If you had an extra 60 minutes a day......

With less than one month until Christmas comes the time where we are pulled into various directions.  Of course we have the normal committments - work, kids, our partners and friends but then throw in Christmas.  For some it is a wonderful magical time but for others it just adds onto the already large "to do" list.

I read an interesting magazine article that had a survey.  It was what would you do if you had an extra hour a day.   You could do WHATEVER you wanted.  Not what you think you should do but you would want to do.  The answers were so interesting.   So what would you do?

I think as a full time working mother, wife and then having a Photography business as well, I do not have enough time in the day for them, for my friends, for anyone.   I'm not alone in the boat where you feel that you are stretched from one edge to the other and the simpliest thing, that one added task, makes you feel like your walls will fall?

An extra hour....well I do have a best friend that I don't get to spend nearly enough time with.  It doesn't help that she lives an hour away.  Would be nice to "bank"those hours and spend a bit more time with her.   An hour to be with my teenager without the teenage angst would be heavenly.   An hour with my husband without the remote, without me being so busy that I have no time for him, would hopefully help bring back that spark of years ago.  An hour to spend with my friend and our cameras....never enough time with that but always so fun. Maybe an hour to spend actually hearing instead of just listening.  An hour to learn something new about a co-worker or a neighbour.    An hour.....doesn't seem much but then again seems like so much. 

Maybe my goal this weekend I am going to try and hour in amongst the million and ten things I need to do, the shoots I need to do, the edits I have, the deadlines, the grocery shopping and the ever ending helps of laundry.  I may blast my stereo and dance like a mad woman.  I may just sit and cry for the ones I have lost.  I may go to the my favourite store or I may just sleep.....that extra hour would be nice.

November 23, 2010

Our other babies....our "fur babies

It's been a while since my last post.  Not like I have a problem talking.  I love to talk.  Perhaps my down fall.  I have been busy with shoots which is not that hard to understand due to the time of the year.  Everyone wants their family pictures and some pics to send with Christmas cards.

It has been a rough year for me and my family.   On Decembetr 20th 2009 we lost our beloved dog Lucky.  For us pets aren't just "pets".   Something just to feed and water and let in and out of the house.  Pets are our "fur babies".  Part of the family.   It hasn't been the same since our 130 pound big wonderful loving "Woobie"as we liked to call him left us.  The house was quiet and of course it was if you don't have a 130 pound "lap dog".   He loved to think he was small and could fit in your lap and trust me he tried any chance he could.  He had to have his "bickie"aka dog bone at 8:00 every night and would literally huff it was late.  No the house wasn't the same.   Unfortunately either was our cat K.C.  

K.C. stopped sleeping with me.   She was a few years shy of 20 when Lucky died and had Lucky around for nearly a decade.  She would torment him and chase him (please note K.C. was only 7 pounds maybe at her heaviest) but they were buds.   She never got over his death.  No one did.

We expected K.C. to leave us sooner considering her age.   Yes indoor cats live longer but nearly 20 was a pretty amazing amount of years.   Part of her died that December 20th.  She lost her beloved Lucky.  We all did.

I worried about her every day when I would come home from work.  My worst fear that I would come home and find her dead.   She plugged along.   She got skinnier, a feat we didn't think was possible, and was still active.  Her hearing went, her kidneys started to go but she was still our pain in the butt, lap snuggling, purring monster.

On Thursday, November 18th 2010 I had to put my sweet K.C. down.   She was 20 years old....on Valentine's Day she would have been 21.   I had her since she was 6 weeks old.  She knew all my secrets.  She was there with me when I had no one.   I loved her so much.   She went blind Thursday night suddenly.  When I got home she could not walk.  She was dying in front of me.   We took her to the emergency clinic to give her dignity.   She was freaking out as she could not hear and could now not see.  She could only smell me.  She knew I was there as I held her the 30 minute car ride to the vet.  She knew it was me when I held her in my arms as they gave her needles.  She died in my arms.  My heart is broken."

The house was not the same with Lucky gone.  Now with my sweet K.C. gone the house is so quiet.  The grumblings and complaints of a teenager cannot even make up for the silence.  The only sound I hear is my heart breaking.

So for some pets are just that....pets.  For some our pets are our babies.   They make you laugh, they make you cry, they comfort you, they love you and they break your heart when they leave.

I will never forget my sweet boy Lucky or my little K.C.   Thank goodness for memories....and my photographs.  I can look back at her when she was healthy and active......I will always have my memories.