So I am usually not one of those people that bitches about how much the past year sucked towards the end of December, but this year I am going to be that person.
In February we lost my grandma. She was technically my step grandma (stepdad's mom), but she loved me and treated me like a blood relative. She had lived a long life as a farmer's wife and was nearly 90 when she passed- she had 8 children, 19 grandchildren, and 11 great grandchildren. She had survived a stroke and her condition had been declining. We knew it was a matter of time but when she did pass it was still such a profound loss to the family.
Then towards the end of April my friend was evicted from the barn she rented, where I boarded my mare. After a mad dash to find a barn I was able to find decent boarding place for Sheena and moved her there at the beginning of June. After being there for a few weeks I called a local vet out that specializes in horses and lameness to give me some additional ideas on how to deal with Sheena's arthritis.
What started as a standard exam and minor chiropractic adjustment to my mare's hindquarters ended with her laying flat in her side in her stall sweating and quivering, unable to stand. The vet thought she had a genetic disorder that was causing the symptoms, and I was up all night with her laying in the indoor arena, struggling to stand then falling, her hind end pretty much useless.
When the vet returned in the morning I made the decision to end her suffering and said goodbye to my friend of twenty years-the horse I had had since I was 9-sobbing and stroking her face on the floor of the indoor arena. I found out later that day that her parents did not carry the disease the vet diagnosed her with and therefore Sheena could not possibly have had it. I called and informed the vet of this and never got a response, not an apology or even an acknowledgment--nothing other than a bill.
A week after Sheena's death, when I was just starting to feel halfway human again we were heading to work when we were in an accident. We had the green light crossing a highway and a guy on a motorcycle blew the red light and hit us. We were ok, but the motorcycle rider was hurt and didn't appear to be wearing a helmet (there was one at the scene, but they think it was strapped to the bike, not his head). Our car was totaled, and it was just a generally awful thing to go through.
Then on Labor Day weekend, while most of the family was out of town, my 19 year old cousin hung himself in my dad's basement. When nobody had heard from my cousin for a few hours, his mom headed over to my dad's house where my cousin had been living and found him. It was awful--he had not left a note, but we think it was drug related.
On top of all that some drama has gone on in my extended family that has just been sad and stressful.
I know that things could always be worse, but really, enough is enough already!
In February we lost my grandma. She was technically my step grandma (stepdad's mom), but she loved me and treated me like a blood relative. She had lived a long life as a farmer's wife and was nearly 90 when she passed- she had 8 children, 19 grandchildren, and 11 great grandchildren. She had survived a stroke and her condition had been declining. We knew it was a matter of time but when she did pass it was still such a profound loss to the family.
Then towards the end of April my friend was evicted from the barn she rented, where I boarded my mare. After a mad dash to find a barn I was able to find decent boarding place for Sheena and moved her there at the beginning of June. After being there for a few weeks I called a local vet out that specializes in horses and lameness to give me some additional ideas on how to deal with Sheena's arthritis.
What started as a standard exam and minor chiropractic adjustment to my mare's hindquarters ended with her laying flat in her side in her stall sweating and quivering, unable to stand. The vet thought she had a genetic disorder that was causing the symptoms, and I was up all night with her laying in the indoor arena, struggling to stand then falling, her hind end pretty much useless.
When the vet returned in the morning I made the decision to end her suffering and said goodbye to my friend of twenty years-the horse I had had since I was 9-sobbing and stroking her face on the floor of the indoor arena. I found out later that day that her parents did not carry the disease the vet diagnosed her with and therefore Sheena could not possibly have had it. I called and informed the vet of this and never got a response, not an apology or even an acknowledgment--nothing other than a bill.
A week after Sheena's death, when I was just starting to feel halfway human again we were heading to work when we were in an accident. We had the green light crossing a highway and a guy on a motorcycle blew the red light and hit us. We were ok, but the motorcycle rider was hurt and didn't appear to be wearing a helmet (there was one at the scene, but they think it was strapped to the bike, not his head). Our car was totaled, and it was just a generally awful thing to go through.
Then on Labor Day weekend, while most of the family was out of town, my 19 year old cousin hung himself in my dad's basement. When nobody had heard from my cousin for a few hours, his mom headed over to my dad's house where my cousin had been living and found him. It was awful--he had not left a note, but we think it was drug related.
On top of all that some drama has gone on in my extended family that has just been sad and stressful.
I know that things could always be worse, but really, enough is enough already!
Wasn't a bad year I guess, just a normal one.