Just An Innocent Walk....

Seems with the Spring season we also get the rain here on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Since we're right on the lake and at the base of the surrounding hills we have lots of that good old "mid-western" red clay. Couple that clay with the rain and you get a slippery, sticky red muck which I realized was NOT a good mix with a white dog!

Our walk started out quite innocent...I was huffing and puffing my way along our road, uphill, and not paying any attention to the little white dog trotting along at my side...until we got to the top of the hill! I slowed to look down and praise her for not pulling her usual "sit in" because she didn't want to walk up the hill...and what I saw was shocking! There was my "white" Maltese and from the feet up to past her belly she was red with wet clay that she must of kicked up while prancing up that hill! She had her ears down, head hung and you could just tell she was really upset. Little white dog does NOT like to be dirty...she is the first one to run into the bathroom when it's her bath time! She looked at me with that "can you please carry me" look, she looked so sad! Instead of going our usual route I turned around and we went home. I had to have her wait out on the porch until I had her bath water run and then went out to get her. She all but leaped out of my arms into the sink!

I could tell that she was so grateful to be in the tub! Her "after" picture showed a little dog that was not at all please with "the Mama" (that's me)....every time I open the door now she looks at me with that "you don't expect me to go out there again do you" look!

Today I think she's forgiven me.....and it was raining again so no walk today! I'm sure she's hoping things will dry up soon and we can take a walk on dry ground!

When we arrived back in Tucson, after being gone the entire summer, our roses had taken a turn for the worst. An irrigation system quit working and we didn't have anyone watching them. These roses were SO important to my husband as his Sister gave them to him the year before she passed away.

He was devastated, I could see it in his eyes. He looked at them and then at me, "honey, is there something you can do for them?". Now, I don't have the greenest thumb in the world, but I have read quite a bit on their care. Now it was time to put that knowledge to work!

I cut them back as much as I thought I should. I watered them carefully never letting them dry out. I fed them a good diet of special Rose food. I added bone meal to help feed and strengthen their roots. Then we waited....and waited....and waited.

About 2 weeks later I was out turning over the soil to make sure it was loose enough to accept and hold the water.....and I thought I saw something, just a little shoot of green! There were 10 roses in all and 5 of them had new shoots coming off the brown dried out stems! 5 of them crawled back from their dormant stage and were now growing.

The weeks turned into months and today those roses are beautiful, the brightest, strongest and most vibrant I ever remember them being.......and you know what? We're all like those roses.....

We thrived when we took care of ourselves, but when we quit doing so we all withered...we grew frail...and we gave up. Then we found SparkPeople. Let's just consider SP as our "fertilizer". We educated ourselves by reading, every day, some of the wonderful articles we found here. We "pruned" ourselves back by cutting our calories, fats and carbs. We added exercise, (our bone meal) to help strengthen ourselves and we carefully drank our water (at least 8 glasses a day) and we waited.

Some of us only had to wait a week or so to start to see a change, some of us had to wait longer. But while we waited our Teammates, the new friends we made and all the wonderful SparkPeople Team stood by us. They turned over that soil to make sure we "accepted" what had been so lovingly given..... and they believed in us.

I wanted to thank you all for all your care. Because of SparkPeople, because of my Teammates and my new friends I have started to "bloom" and so have so many others.....

The roses today......and we can all be just like them.....