Don’t you love it when life gives you a chance IMMEDIATELY to do what you said you would?  

I was only being slightly sarcastic there.

On Monday, I said that I was going to work on giving myself grace during 2017.  Well, apparently life decided it was going to give me my first test this week.

Right after Christmas, I started dog-sitting my sister and brother-in-law’s chocolate lab, Bronson.  He is a sweetie and any chance I can get with a dog is good.  I stayed at their apartment in Hoffman Estates, enjoyed all their natural light, came up with new recipes, took food pics, worked on assignments, and got all the puppy kisses.

 

It was great.

Then last Sunday night, something wasn’t quite right.  Bronson, a normally energetic and happy puppy, seemed very subdued.  I chalked it up to being tired.  We had played all day and taken a walk, and he does like to sleep.  But then he didn’t finish his dinner and I knew in my gut he wasn’t well.  Luckily, the vet’s office was open the next day and I made an appointment.

Turns out the baby had a fever of 105 and swollen glands.  Other than that, the vet wasn’t quite sure what was wrong so she filled him up with fluids to bring down his temp and sent me home with antibiotics.  Needless to say, I felt horrible for the poor guy and nervous that I should be doing more but not knowing what to do.

Come Tuesday, I was a stressed-out wreck.  Bronson wasn’t getting better and I couldn’t get him to take his meds and I had a new assignment looming over my head and I hadn’t even begun to think of my Wednesday post.  I was near tears.  Then I remembered what I had written about on Monday.

I obviously hadn’t made Bronson sick, so I needed to calm down.  There is no rule that says I HAVE to have a post every Wednesday and even if it hurt my page views, I had other things to take care of this week.

So I let Wednesday go by without a post.

Instead, I took care of Bronson as best I could (they still aren’t quite sure what’s wrong with him, but his fever has gone down and he is doing a little better), I made dinner for my sister and brother-in-law so they wouldn’t have to worry about it after driving all day, and I worked on my assignment.  Most importantly, I didn’t scold myself for being lazy and skipping a blogging day.  It happens and it’s ok.

Maybe this being kind to myself isn’t all that bad… 

Next week, I hope to be back to my regular schedule and share some tasty recipes I’ve created over the past few weeks.  Until then, have a great weekend full of grace and fun!