We all know that death is an unavoidable part of life. However, when it happens, it’s very difficult to remember that fact. Now I promise I will TRY not to get too emotional during this post, but honestly it can’t really be helped…it’s a very fresh wound. On Thursday 10, November just after midnight, (I was highly intoxicated after a brilliant night with the girls of the Cork Stitch’N’Bitch) I was playing on my computer and watching Elf, when my Skype alerted me that I had an incoming call. I answered, and immediately heard my mother sobbing, and my father, in a very somber tone, said “Cosmo is in heaven.” Now I realize that most of you have no idea who Cosmo is, so here is a little background. Cosmo, or Bob as I ALWAYS called him, was my dog. When I moved to Ireland he stayed with my parents because he was more of a family dog. We got him from the AZ Humane Society, about 6 ½ years ago. After we had adopted him, he was so excited. We were walking him from the Humane Society facility to our truck, and he was peeing all over the footpath…we stopped to allow him to go, but then he stopped, and as soon as we started walking he started peeing again. It was kind of funny, and it became a family joke that he could ‘write his name’. We decided to name him ‘Cosmo’ after the cartoon character from ‘Fairly Odd Parents’ on Nickelodeon. He was named because he wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box, but he was full of love and affection, despite our suspicions that his previous owners beat him with garden tools.
I have spent the past two days in an emotional tizzy. I hadn’t eaten, I hadn’t really slept, I wasn’t speaking to my husband (or anyone else). Now my husband, being the ‘observant’ (I use that term loosely) man that he is, knew something was wrong, but I refused to tell him what, because I knew it would lead to tears. I was suffering in silence. I was feeling incredibly guilty, wondering if Bob had thought I didn’t care about him because I wasn’t there for him when he died. The pain and guilt was affecting everything I did, I tried making gingerbread, only to fail, and end up in a cookie dough covered heap on the floor crying hysterically for an hour. A friend of mine, who has recently moved away from Ireland, noticed a post on Facebook that was full of anger and frustration, and messaged me immediately. She reminded me to remember Bob, and not mourn for his loss, but to celebrate his life. Bob was a good dog. He was loved very much, and treated like the king of the castle. He had his own chair! He usually had control of whatever bed he lied in, and he and my dad always shared biscuits (cookies) on a regular basis. Now when we got him, he was very skinny and timid. He was fearful of garden tools (rakes, shovels, etc.) so we suspected that he was abused with similar tools. After a few stern (but much needed) words, I decided to change my outlook. Bob had enriched the life of our family, and we had enriched his. He was a blessing to our family, and it was only fair that we end his suffering. I just wish I could have been there for him at the end.
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| Bob sitting in his favourite chair. |
Now for a few good stories about our life with Bob:
Before I moved to Ireland and left my parents home, I remember redecorating my room (why yes, it was done entirely in PINK! How did you know?) and I purchased a shaggy hot pink rug for the floor, it was the final touch. I put it down and was enjoying the pepto-bismol-ness that was my pink room, when Bob wandered in. He sniffed about the rug for a minute…and lifted his leg and proceeded to pee on my brand new rug. Luckily it was a fairly cheap rug, and it was easy to clean. But it was quite funny…I remember being slightly mad at him, but it was just funny. I also remember, about 2 weeks before my wedding, I was SICK…I mean REALLY SICK! I had whooping cough, my asthma was flairing up, I had laryngitis, and the CDC was calling non-stop interrogating my mother about how I had contracted whooping cough. I was in bed for like a week straight. I remember Bob being by my side for the whole week, even though I was doing nothing but sleeping and watching Disney movies…he was there, just hanging out with me. Anyway, I think I have rambled enough. I just hope that the movie doesn’t lie and that all dogs really do go to heaven. I love you Bob, you were one of the best dogs/friends a girl could have!
game. This idea sounded promising to me, because I am a huge fan of Allison Sweeney, who stars in my favourite soap Days of our Lives as the devilishly brilliant Sami Brady. I began reading the reviews of the game, and even downloaded the demo. When I did the demo, it was extremely challenging, but I liked it. It kept track of the exercises I was doing well and which ones I needed to work harder on, it also kept track of the calories burned which was brilliant. After completing the demo workout I felt amazing. So I ordered it. When it arrived, I went through the setup, which was great. I had to do a fitness assessment, which determined the level at which I should be working out. Then it performed a full body scan, basically I stood there and the Kinect moved up and down and gathered an image of my body (which wasn’t the most attractive thing I have seen). Then it gathered my measurements from the scan which for the most part were correct, however it did say that my neck was something ridiculous like 517 cm around…but no worries, you can manually adjust the measurements. After completion of the scan and the fitness assessment you select how often you want to work out, I chose 4 days a week, and I have been doing very well so far, although I had to take a small break because I went on holiday to Scotland and when I returned I got very sick, so as soon as I am feeling better I will resume my workouts! I can’t wait. When you complete your first week of working out you have to do your first challenge, which usually involves jogging or squats, and you compete head to head with the other computer contestants, until you either win, or lose and then you have your ‘weigh-in’ and it’s just like the show, Allison Sweeney stands there and tells you to step forward and your little character steps on to the scale (at which point you weigh yourself with your own scale) and then you input your current weight, and it gives you the percentage of weight lost (or gained depending on how your week went). During your workouts your trainers are brilliant, they continuously encourage you and give praise when you’re doing well, and at the end of your workout it tells you what exercises were your best and worst and how many calories you burned during each activity. Over all I would HIGHLY recommend this game if you’re interested in losing weight. I’ll try to keep posting updates as I continue to work on myself, hopefully it will give me the strength to keep going!