The Balancing Act: Family, House, Career
The last three weeks have been emotionally and physically straining. We failed the dog we rescued from under a bridge in Tomball. She loved to cuddle with humans, but she viciously attacked our other dog. The rescue punctured the little one’s paw and chewed the collar off of her neck. She tore up our house including a brand new suitcase, a friend’s mattress we were borrowing and my father’s expensive hearing aide.
She was walked daily, sometimes twice a day. It didn’t help. In the end, we kept her beside us on a leash wherever we were because we could not trust her alone for a second. She was miserable. We were miserable.
We tried to send her to a rescue organization, but every one I called would not take her because of her dog aggression. After crying for a week as I came to terms with taking her to the county shelter, my husband and I surrendered her. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I felt like a failure for not being able to save this dog who was messed up by her previous owners and thrown away. I felt guilty for being out of options and having no other place to home the dog. The shelter was painful in and of itself with its four litters of puppies and countless kittens in the lobby hoping for a home.
A solution. There must be a solution.
After that rigmarole, I started working at Jenna’s barn to earn sweat equity to pay for her horse camp. I mucked five barns worth of stalls in the 90 degree heat along with replacing shavings and weeding the gardens. The second week was a bit easier because it rained, lowering the temperature drastically. The only day I had off was last Tuesday because TS Bill came through.
These weeks of labor left my old, out of shape body bruised and blistered and aching and swollen and weak. Then I found out more information that made me pull my daughter out of camp. We took all of Friday to tour other barns and found one a bit farther away but with a family atmosphere that I had been longing for. Jenna and I can’t wait to start working with SCC Farm in Magnolia. I LOVED the property and the trainer and the horses. Can’t wait for the next adventure!
Moral of this story? Trying to dedicate time to your career gets too easily side-tracked with life and kids and other responsibilities. I’m still having a problem balancing all of my hats on my head. I’ve only revised two chapters in the past three weeks. Next week there are a couple appointments and cleaning to prepare for the 4th of July BBQ. All the rest of my time will be spent glued to my desk revising this manuscript. I HAVE to have it done by July 1st. I set a deadline and MUST make it happen. How else am I going to be a successful writer?
Now, off to clean the garage!
