Month: January 2023

Life

2023 So Far (Is it possible to start the year over again?)

AJ Niblock

If you read my first post of the year, I mentioned that I’m being more cautious and taking my time to start my year. I usually begin the year by jumping in and making lists and plans. This year, I can’t seem to muster up the same enthusiasm. Maybe it’s the grey skies here (near Seattle) or because the first week of the year we lost a family pet, but I’m already over this year. Can I get a do over? Or refund? Or mulligan? Something…

In addition to my family’s pet bird dying, we’ve had a somewhat turbulent month. Some good, some bad, but the bad is bogging us down right now. It’s not just me. My whole family is dealing with terrible news.

We just found out that our seven-year-old cat has bone cancer. In her lower jaw. I’ll be honest when the vet told me, I was in complete disbelief (aka denial). One of my degrees is in veterinary nursing, so I immediately went home and pulled out textbooks and pulled up reliable veterinary medical websites to read anything and everything I could about it.

I was still in denial. I even pulled out the old x-ray pictures from our other cat to compare their x-rays. And I stared at those pictures a thousand times, and I was like, nope! I don’t see it. I think the doc is wrong.

And even after two days, I still refused to accept it. Then on the third morning, I was drinking my coffee and picked up the picture of our sick cat’s x-rays, and I saw it. I saw exactly what the doctor was talking about. Even though she had pointed to it when I was with her, it took about 48 hours and way too much looking at x-rays online for me to finally admit that I saw it. It was like a magic eye picture. Now that I see it, I wish I couldn’t.

We are still waiting for histology to confirm, but my whole family is in shock. We thought we’d have Rosie, our cat, for at least another decade or so. We’ve never had a pet die before it reached “senior” status. I know it can literally happen to anyone, at any age, but it’s terrifying and heart breaking. Sometimes knowing something and being able to accept it are two very different things that don’t coexist well together.

UPDATE: ROSIE DOES NOT HAVE CANCER!!!!! I am so happy right now. We finally got the histology back. She has a bone infection, which is still terrible, but very treatable!!! The doctor was almost giddy when she told me. Sometimes doctors don’t mind being wrong. I totally get that. I am unbelievably relieved.

prompt, Writing

January 2023 Prompt

AJ Niblock

I hope your year is off to a better start than mine.

My family and I had a wonderful winter break. We basically did nothing but chill. It was relaxing.

Then the first week of January rolled around and one of our pets died. Obviously, not a great start to the year. In fact, since we have lived in our current location (3 years) we have lost one pet a year. That’s three deaths in three years.

My heart is so full of grief right now. The pets we’ve lost led long happy lives, but it still hurts.

The biggest change since losing our bird is that my house is unbearably quiet. It’s kind of making me feel crazy. Our bird, Jingles, chirped all morning, and even more so when it rains, which it does a fair amount here (we live near Seattle). I miss every little squawk and cheep.

Like I said, I hope your year is off to a better start than mine. I have started to work on my goals for this year, but I’m taking things slow right now. The weather and other things is leaving me with very little motivation right now.

If you want to, I encourage you to join me in my short story challenge for this year. Like usual, I’m going to share one prompt a month and then write a story with that by the end of the month, for a grand total of 12 stories by the end of the year. This year I’m challenging myself to write a little bit more each month. My goal for each story will be 1500 words minimum.

Without further ado, here is the first prompt for 2023:

“He had trouble walking, trouble standing up, trouble buttering his toast. But his mind was as sharp as ever. He had this amazing way with trivia. He could tell you…”

Complete the Story

As always, happy reading and writing today and every day! If you decide to write a story, I would love to read it!