Don’t forget departed
ANOTHER year over and a new one just begun. I’m sure you could write a song about that.
Let me begin by wishing you and your pets a very happy, healthy New Year.
It would be wonderful if they could all be free of pain and sickness but we can only hope they have the best life possible and, when it is over, that they can be remembered fondly with a smile, even though they make the heart ache.
I felt my own wee thud just before Hogmanay. Maybe it’s a genetic Scottish thing but this time of year always makes me want to clean.
The wardrobe gets a good clear out. Any shirts not worn in the previous year January 5 ■ Kilmarnock & District Canine Society’s Open Show in Lanark Agricultural Centre at 9.30am January 6 ■ Paisley & District Canine Society’s Open Show in Lanark Agricultural Centre at 9.30am January 27 ■ Hamilton Canine Club’s Open Show in Lanark. definitely go. Well, all except that one and this one. Trousers are the same, though generally that is because they don’t fit anymore.
I’m sure they shrink in the wash. And then there’s the car. I love a good, clean car. While the garage is bulging with slowly decaying bottles of car wax and numerous wonder stuff that doesn’t produce the shine it claims to, the thing that makes the biggest difference is the vacuum cleaner. Nothing beats a good hoovering.
Which is when I spotted Secretary Mrs. G. Pike, 52 Glams Crescent, Blantyre G72 0TE. Email gemmapike@ outlook.com entries close January 11 (January 16 online). February 10 ■ Highland Canine Society’s Limited Show, Invergordon. Secretary Mr. P. Moir, The Oaks, Cabrich, Kirkhill, Inverness IV5 7PH Tel. 01463 782552. Entries close January 10 (January 17 online). it. A single solitary, short, brown hair that once adorned our own wee longdeparted rescue dog, Scud.
How it has avoided being sooked up for over two years I will never know but there it was, caught in the carpet. It made me stop and think. I realised I had got to the stage after her death that I had begun to push her to the back of my mind.
I had progressed (is that the appropriate word?) from looking every morning to the empty space in the kitchen where she lay to reminiscing about her playing with the children as they grew up to thinking about her only occasionally.
Now, faced with the stark, physical reminder of her presence in our lives, it didn’t seem right that she still didn’t play a part.
She was, after all, part of the family and a huge contributor to our children’s happiness and security.
So here is my simple New Year’s resolution.
A simple determination to set aside a little time every now and then and enjoy a right good reminiscing about those who are no longer with us.
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