A Difficult Couple of Months

It has been such a challenging and emotional couple of months that also included an amazing personal accomplishment, which unfortunately has been pushed to the side because celebrating just hasn’t felt right due to everything else we have been going through as a family. I completed the Disney Princess Half Marathon at Walt Disney World last month and I hope to share more about the experience soon, but my brain just isn’t ready for that quite yet. Since arriving home from that trip to Orlando everyone in my household has been sick. First it was Nick, then Cody, and now Paul and I are both still not 100% well as we continue to battle with illness that has stuck around for over two weeks. I’m told that stress can take one heck of a toll on your body and your health, which probably explains why I’ve been struck by three different viruses back to back to back and can’t seem to shake them loose. The biggest reason for my stress is our dog Jenna and her health. She is 17 1/2 years old and has been gradually going downhill for nearly a year, with the last several weeks being the most difficult to watch. She requires medication just to be able to walk without pain and while my head knows what is truly best for her (and me as her primary caregiver), my heart can’t bare the thought of not having her in our family anymore.  I can’t tell you how many times I have looked into her eyes and wished she could tell me what she wants or send me a sign that she’s had enough, but all I see is her sweet, beautiful face looking back at me and I just wish she could be here with us forever. There have been a lot of tears and a great deal of guilty feelings as we try to decide the right “time” to say goodbye to our beloved Jenna, but that’s the problem. There really is no right time.