I’m typing through the tears today… 🙁
It’s taken me 4 days to pull myself together to write this post.
You know when you have to talk about something that you know is going to make you cry, bring up a whole heap of emotions, and so you put off doing it?
Well that’s how I’ve been feeling about this blog post today.
So here goes…
On Sunday evening we said good-bye to our furry baby “Arnie”.
From my Facebook wall:
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Feeling absolutely shattered.. Said good-bye to our furry baby tonight “Arnie”. We love you “big yella” and will miss you so much. We feel privileged to have had such a loving, loyal, amazing boy in our lives for 12.5 years. You will no longer be in pain our precious bub. Mandy xo
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Our precious Arnie (Yellow Labrador on the right) and Louie
On Monday evening we lit some candles for him…
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Burning some candles for our “Arnie” tonight. Will miss you, Arn. hugs Mummy, Daddy and Louie xoxo
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I was overwhelmed by the awesome, heart-felt, inspiring, beautiful kind words of support. Thankyou so much!
We feel truly grateful that Arnie chose us to be his parents.
He was and is an amazing “gift” to us and constantly inspired us with the things that he overcame in his life. It was so hard to say good-bye and our hearts are still breaking, we love Arnie so much.
Arnie came into our lives 12+ years ago during a difficult time in our lives.
And after two people had turned their backs on him when he was a puppy, wanting him and then changing their minds…
It was so meant to be that it was third time lucky for him. They missed out on an amazing companion – we gained the most awesome doggy furry baby we could’ve ever asked for.
Arnie at 12 weeks old
Arnie was a strong willed boy, super smart, with a big hilarious personality and heaps of character. Kept us on our toes. He had us in fits of laughter all the time.
He was loving, gentle, caring and had a big teddy bear nature, he loved cuddles – he loved people, other dogs, he absolutely adored kids and babies – he was so well loved.
When people were introducing their young kids to dogs they would ask us if their children’s first experience with dogs could be to hangout with Arnie. Which he loved. It feels so quiet here now without him.
As you know, my furry babies are my children. Having to say good-bye to Arnie was heart wrenching. I’m still coming to terms with it… Half waiting for him to wander in my room, my office, where ever I am for hugs and pats. Our daily walks in the park.
…And our nightly routine of me telling Arnie and Louie “how did I ever get so lucky to have you as my furry babies”…
Arnie’s brother Louie, he’s spent his whole life with Arnie (Louie will be 10 yrs in June) is missing him heaps. It’s been nearly as hard watching him fretting. We’re giving him lots of extra special care to help him with his grief also.
Arnie on the left and Louie on the right
So where does this leave me with my “Getting out of shape” and my “Getting back into shape” challenge?
I started the “getting back into shape” program at the beginning of this week, between crying all the time (my face looks like I’ve been stung by a bee), nausea and migraines, from Arnie’s passing…the thought of eating anything actually made me feel sick.
I love food and great nutrition, so that’s not like me to not want to eat. I wasn’t expecting to “go off my food”.
With Arnie being so ill, I’ve been sleeping on a blow-up mattress on the floor for over 6+ weeks, in between work, Arnie’s needed round the clock care, I’ve been averaging 2-3 max hours sleep at a time. And in my last post, we actually thought he was on the road to recovery.
So along with the “get out of shape” experiment I was doing, it wore me out big time.
After Arnie’s passing, I wandered around the house sobbing, and not knowing what to do with myself.
I felt empty and exhausted. He had been such a huge part of our lives and had been through some mammoth obstacles in his 12+ years on this earth that I couldn’t imagine what life would be like without him in it.
Then I started thinking about how the heck I was going to get through this and still complete my “get out of shape” and “get back into shape” challenge.
I felt embarrassed, guilty that I hadn’t been able to keep up with my program that I was supposed to throw myself into this week.
What would people say if I took this week off?
I know there are folk who think that people like me, that adore their furry babies, are ridiculous… and don’t share the respect and love for animals that I do. I’ve had their negativity directed at me in the past. Would this type of nastiness rear it’s ugly head again?
I then remembered what my lovely friend and Mindset Mentor Marika Lewis would say “who care’s what anyone thinks”… and would encourage me to be true to myself.
So here I am a few days into the first week, finding myself, in a situation which I hadn’t planned when I first started this journey.
So what are my plans now for the rest of this week?
1. Getting my head in the right place and allowing myself to grieve.
2. Feeling ok about being honest about all of this and opening up to you about it. Not ashamed or embarrassed of it.
3. Getting my nutrition back on track. Which I’ve already started doing, including increasing my calories. As I spent a few days eating hardly a thing.
4. Writing down my goals again, and including Arnie’s brother Louie in them, so we can go do some fun activities (that we can both do). And of course focusing on the awesome memories of our beloved Arnie.
So grateful for having Arnie our in our lives.
5. Be ready to rock n roll next week. I’m actually excited about starting next week. Because I know how important great nutrition, exercise along with rest and recovery is to reaching your Ultimate Dream Body Goals… and to grieving.
What’s going on in my life, is just an example, of the many things that we experience in life. I feel it’s important that I share it with you.
…So you understand, I’m just like anyone else when it comes to things that life throws at you when you’re getting into shape and creating a body that you feel confident with and love.
I’m super passionate about helping my clients…
I love my clients to bits…
And seeing them achieve amazing results is so fulfilling. I see them go through their own struggles and obstacles in life and truly enjoy supporting them.
I don’t have one once of doubt in my mind of their ability to transform their bodies and their mindsets to create their Ultimate Dream Body.
I love being their Personal Trainer, Motivator, Accountability Coach, fitness and training buddy…and loyal friend. I love bringing out the best in them.
If you’re ready to experience your own journey, be supported by myself and Ultimate YOU Clients…
To Train, Eat, be part of the Ultimate Dream Body alongside me, have that support and coaching that you need… then jump on board NOW and start with me on Monday.
Just head on over to the Ultimate YOU Dream Body Program to get started and I’ll see you there.
If you have any questions, just email, I’m always happy to help. 🙂
In memory of our beautiful boy, love you Arnie… big hugs from Mummy, Daddy and Louie xoxoxoxo
Lots of hugs
