Hi Everyone!

I’m so sorry my chapters for The Spring are delayed this week…there has been a lot going on.

Most importantly, my dog Tillie died on Sunday and while she was old (11 ½) and was having some arthritis and movement issues, we thought she was on the mend and doing a lot better. I had been at a good friend’s wedding Friday and Saturday and when I picked her up Sunday, she was very “floppy” and definitely not herself. I brought her home, gave her a bath, wrapped her in a big towel, got her dry in front of the heater…and her breathing was just off. Finally, at around 6PM, her breathing got really rapid and as I was just putting on my shoes to take her to emergency, her breathing slowed and then stopped. I was holding her and felt her heart slowly stop too.

Tillie was a wonderful dog: funny, full of mischief, sweet…She loved sleeping under my desk while I wrote in the mornings, and would growl at me to go to bed if I was writing too late at night.

She was my best friend and I will miss her dearly.

This started a week of a few other tough days: I received a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s Disease from my endocrinologist — and here I thought it was just perimenopause. Ugh! I know the prognosis is excellent, but upset that our medical system only does “standard” blood panels instead of looking deeper to really find what’s happening, which makes me upset to think this has been happening for a while.

I also have elderly parents an hour away, so had to dash up there for a full day yesterday…and…

On the way home I finally hit an emotional and physical wall of exhaustion. On Monday, after Tillie left, I didn’t have the head space to finalize my chapter, and yesterday I could barely form thoughts at all. The week just caught up with me, so unfortunately…no chapters this week.

Thank you for all of your support and I promise some good, juicy chapters are on their way to you ASAP!

Love,

Annie