I thought I was having a bad week - and then my dog died!

The life of a special needs mum is always going to be a bit more complicated, a bit more challenging, than your average mum, but there are times when the thick brown slimey stuff seems to hit the fan at greater velocity and volume than even we're used to.  Last week was one of those times!

Day by day I get on with the stuff I do - dealing with seizures, changing nappies on a teenager, shovelling in meds etc.  Kinda don't give it much thought any more, but when other stuff happens, you realise how many straws there already are on the camels back, and how long you live constantly in a state where it's only a few more straws from breaking.

Something will happen, and it'll start to get you down....

Something else will happen - and you'll drift into "woe is me, my life sucks" mode....

Something else will happen on top - and you'll get angry....

Something else will happen in addition, and you'll find yourself manically laughing, rocking, saying wibble wibble and generally behaving very oddly!

These "somethings" may not be huge events, but each straw, on top of an overloaded person, is just one more thing to cope with, to overwhelm you.

....and then your dog dies!

It shouldn't really be any surprise that stressful things happen, but when it all happens at once, that's the real test of you, your support system, your friends, your family and your faith.

That's when I realise how fortunate I really am.  The fan is going at full pelt, the sh@@ is hitting it and it's flying back in all directions, so I'm ducking and diving and not smelling of roses.  I say "fortunate" and not "lucky", cos no-one with this amount of sh@@ in their lives could be considered lucky - but I am truly blessed with some amazing friends and family.

I've had people with me when I cried when I thought I was just having a bad week....I had people with me when my dog died - one friend delivered my dear dead dog to the vets for cremation whilst another cleaned up the poop in my garden for me so I wouldn't have to face it.  My family's rallied around me with food parcels and phone calls.  My church prayed with me and my boy.

I have known deep despair and deeper joy this week

I am blessed!

My boy in his usual position recently - flat out on a settee somewhere!  

Picture the scene - it's 1 am and I really really want to go to sleep. My boy and my dog, however, have other ideas!