Making the Most of Every Moment

This week has been a challenging week for the UK – the “Beast from the East” weather bomb hit us, and we were once again reminded of the fact that we are woefully underprepared for extreme weather conditions of any kind.

This, from a nation whose no.1 topic of conversation is the weather (go figure)…!

Here in the South West – where we had a red weather warning from the Met Office – everything’s been shut down since lunchtime yesterday. The snow was epic (if you consider it’s considered warm enough to grow palm trees and banana plants down here then the amount of snow we had was definitely epic), and everything came to a grinding halt. It was kinda nice seeing kids playing in the street, with no cars going anywhere, and an eerie quiet falling over the town. Keith stayed at home today and we had a relaxing day and enjoyed our boy’s company.

Talking of whom… this image is of Riley in the snow this evening – it’s just a grainy photo Keith took with his phone, but it’s lovely all the same. He sent it to me less than five minutes after they’d popped out for a walk after the boy insisted on going out for his second walk of the day, DESPITE the freezing temperatures and DESPITE the snow that was still falling and DESPITE the bad news about his health. Many of you have asked on lots of different forums (emails, comments, private messages, etc.) how he’s doing, and you know what? He’s basically making the most of every moment. I don’t know whether this dog knows whether his time on the planet is now somewhat limited, but it’s as if someone has flipped a switch and he wants to make the most of every moment he has left.

(And thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the messages of love and concern for him, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate them.)

 

Making the most of every moment

He’s never been a big eater, but now he wolfs down every meal and wants more. He’s often getting 3-4 walks a day because he’s always up for an adventure at the moment (we let him lead the way and we’ve discovered loads of new roads and places we’ve never been to before, all thanks to him). Even today he romped (yes, ROMPED) in the snow with lots of other dogs… Keith had to chase after him at one point because that boy would have trotted home with another couple and their dog who were going in the opposite direction. This is all from the aloof lurcher who doesn’t chase balls, looks down his nose at other dogs and thinks he’s a human.

We think the painkillers he’s now on to make him comfortable have given him a new lease of life. And we’re enjoying every moment we can with him as well. All too often I tell Keith I have work to do and he takes Riley for a walk by himself – I’m doing this less now as I’ve realised I need to make the most of my time with him. So out into the snow I’ve ventured, and pretty wonderful it’s been too.

 

So let’s all be a Riley and enjoy our food, go on adventures in the snow and demand attention from our loved ones, all at the same time as making them laugh and making them happy.

 

Quality of life and enjoying the simple things in life is something that we often take for granted (I know I do). Too often I spend all day AND EVENING at my desk working when I have two gorgeous silver-haired boys downstairs I could be spending time with. Granted, I am doing it to try and earn as much money as possible so that we can move somewhere bigger to have some more space (our terrace house is tiny) and a bigger garden for the boy, but there has to be a cut-off point in the day where at least not missing moments comes first.

This week I received some horribly sad news about an old friend whose life has been turned upside with the diagnosis of one of their young children (I don’t want to say more than that), and I’m devastated for them. I’m sure they now know the importance of making the most of every moment to the nth degree. It’s such a wake-up call as to just how precious life is and how frittering it away with petty arguments, or working too hard or too much, or failing to show up to a party or event or engagement because you just couldn’t be bothered is so damn WRONG. It’s an insult to the one life you’ve been given.

So let’s all be a Riley and enjoy our food, go on adventures in the snow and demand attention from our loved ones, all at the same time as making them laugh and making them happy. Because what else is there in life?!

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SHARE THIS WEEK – ANY SNOWMAGEDDON STORIES OF YOUR OWN? TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS!

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