Growing Pains!

I

The Peek family has been experiencing lots of growing pains. JJ got a new job and we are all transitioning to a new routine that is difficult for all of us.  We will be seeing less of JJ as he will probably have to be gone for several overnight trips during the month, as well as it is unpredictable to know when he will fly therefore leaving us living at the seat of our pants knowing that at any time he could have to take off and work for days. 

 Mazi has grown very attached to her daddy, his presence equals lots of rowdy play, laughter and fun. 

 I can't always give that to her as mothers also need to do house work, clean, cook and other tasks that aren't so fun for the wee folks.

 I love having JJ around cause he is warm and a great snuggler, nights with him are comforting and he almost always rubs my feet and body if I sit next to him on the couch, but I also love his time spent with Mazi.  That gives me time to catch up and sometimes even take a personal hour or two in the middle of the day to...breathe, bend and BE!  

Also, we are dealing with Mazi's growth spurt she's in.

 Mazi has grown an inch in three weeks, making nights restless and sometimes painful.  I massage her legs at night to help her cope, which takes away some of my own sleep and that isn't so easily made up!

 I will forever help her though if she needs my help in the middle of the deep dark night. 

The change in temperature has brought about the cold rain, oh how I would take cold cold snow over cold wet rain! I love the cleansing of the earth, but it's hard to be outside.  Both Mazi and I really enjoy our outside time!  

All in all growing pains=growing change and if there is one thing I love and embrace, it's change.  I know this change will lead to great things.  I feel that to be true!  I know that there is unconditional loving experiences ahead and that warms my soul. For now, I am thankful for the pain! 

The rainbow only comes after the rain!

BOOKS!!

I am very glad we humans desired to communicate so much that we created language and writing and learned to steal trees for paper and place all our words into collective phrases and paragraphs that transpired into books! 

To hold a book, flip through its pages and  smell the fresh print is truly a pleasure of mine. As much as I love the instant information on the World Wide Web I am even more in love with reading a book. Holding it in my lap, closing myself off so no one can see my face and letting my mind focus and absorb the knowledge that's being poured out through language. 

I rarely read novels, but those too blow me away as I'm taking a drift on a journey.

 I prefer non-fiction and simply can't get educated enough...if only I could retain the information better!!! 

I only wish I had more time to dedicate to reading. 

Reading a book, sipping a beverage and releasing my mind to words is such a pleasure for me!

Thankful for BOOkS! 

...and mazi kinda likes them too!

Technology!

Yes, I am very thankful for technology! It is because I live in this day and age I can be miles away, even continents away from dear family and friends but still connect daily! All I need is a small little device that fits in the palm, yes palm of my hand and is no thicker than a pack of gum. 

I can access information in seconds on any subject I choose...and it always correct, ok maybe not always, but it's helpful when I look at the right sources. 

I can take great photos and videos of my growing family and document my journey of life to share with all those I love! 

I have my favorite songs readily available when ever I need to blast them into my ears and dance like a wild woman!

I can help my Mazi get through long drives in the car with entertainment and educational videos, or help her tolerate those times when she just has to be with mom and it's kinda boring and her patience is really really tried! 

Or when I simply need to clean the house or cook dinner and she has already been playing with her toys and just needs to relax and kick back letting her mind drift off to colorful frozen land...

whatever it is this age of technology has really helped me out and I am glad I live in a time where I have access to it. 

Now just like anything else in life, too much of it can be a HUGE problem! It needs balance and it is easily getting out of balance hurting our social skills and our activity level and our brains for that matter (electromagnetic waves)! But the yogi in me teaches me to create my own balance and seek out long stretches in nature with no distraction from technology, to practice deep breathing and meditation with no distraction, to paint, draw or garden with no distraction. We all get to control our addictions and balance ourselves out. I enjoy practicing this skill in my life and teaching Mazi the same. 

Thank you technology, thank you Apple! This part of the advanced world is one I really embrace!! 

Gratitude!

Last month was such an intense roller coaster of emotions, events and energies. I felt them so strongly that I'm certain it was a planetary shift that is occurring. The moons are bringing change and awareness is more important now than ever before. 

I ended the month of October on a good vibe, knowing that I must keep my intentions and actions aligned so I don't get sucked into this chaos that is surrounding me. I see people everywhere struggling internally through physical illness, emotional distress and lots of depression and disconnection. On my journey, I have created intentions for November to first deepen my awareness and connection to my own physical body, cleansing and honoring it's function.

Then, to my spiritual awareness to the collective consciousness and allowing myself to be receptive and courageous to act on the energies that are needing to be here on this planet as we evolve into even more healing. We are globally out of balance in every way!!! 

Does this make sense to you? Good! No, you too have inner work to do too, we all have our part physically, mentally, and spiritually! 

November is the month of gratitude! I'm staying aligned to feel it daily, hourly and to put out there what has sparked the flame of my heart each day. I have put off writing for my words would have been negative and full of strong emotions that would come out harshly! We do to need more of this energy out there, even though it's real, it's what we are all facing right now. I tend to want to speak of the light of life. But, even as I speak this light I too feel the dark of my soul transforming. 

We have our religion, even if we say we have none, religion is any belief of any form. I find my strength is my Yoga!

I am so fully grateful to have this practice in my life! I have never found a more perfect place to safely transcend and face my biggest challenges of life then through my Yoga practice. It is on my mat, where I practice my life skills and my control of thought and useless old thought patterns. 

This early November morning as I make my way to the yoga studio for a private lesson, I am filled with a warm heart for my love of Yoga!! I see today my true self, I see my students true self and I see our ability to be humbled through humility. I feel the Divines light and I am present! Thank you Yoga for connecting me every day! 

Sekoya

About 8 years ago I lost a Golden Retriever named Attikus to cancer.  Dogs should not get cancer! I realized my mistake the hard way and changed the way I thought about health, healing, and the body for both animals and humans at that time.  I lightly prepared a raw, nutritious, immune boosting diet and fed Attikus this food until his death which was 9 months longer than Drs. predicted.  He still suffered and I lost him after only 4 years.

My husband and I were devastated!! He was our boy, our child...and he was a very misbehaved dog.

I wasn't looking for another, not yet, I wanted to mourn, but the vet insisted we take on this Golden pup that was returned to the breeder for howling at night and abnoxious behavior.  What? Seriously this dog was perfect from the beginning.  They must have really misunderstood her or treated her real poorly.

One look at this pup and we knew she was coming home with us.  Passive, submissive, timid, and stared right into our eyes. We named her Sekoya because she was grand and was the same reddish/gold color of the bark on the Sequoia tree.

From the moment we received her we were smitten.  Loyal, the easiest dog to train, peed in the house once and didn't chew on anything we didn't give her.  She dug into our house plants once but that was it! She was quiet and mellow and followed us everywhere looking for guidance and companionship.  I was so crazy about her that I knew I was going to change my life to have her in it everywhere I went.  I trained her to be a service dog, she didn't pass due to her timid nature, so I decided on something else.  I kept her vest, took her everywhere I went, from the grocery store to restaurants that dog went everywhere I went.  I decided to open a doggie daycare, boarding, grooming facility serving only the best holistic and natural foods since that was all I would feed Sekoya. There sprang Ruffhouse because of my booger brains.  She came to work with me daily.  She was on a raw food diet til she was about 5 and she saw the vet a few times that first year and rarely after that. She was perfectly healthy and beautiful. She slept in my bed, often on my spouses pillow when he left to work and she even came to every one of my yoga classes I taught.

She was the highlight of people attending the classes.  She gave her loving energy and helped everyone let go of their garbage they carried with them.  She patiently waited at the front of class, all the way til the word "Namaste" came out of my mouth.  She would walk around and great the people she knew, which grew tremendously as time progressed, she was the yoga dog of Utah Valley!

She helped me through a Divorce with full emotional support to both me and my spouse.  She moved from house to house in the mountains with me as I learned the deep parts of what makes my soul sing.  Then, she supported me as I picked up our lives and moved to Nashville, TN leaving the life I knew behind.  She moved with me and adapted to the new life of country living.  We learned the land, got chickens, watched squirrels, walked the forests and got eaten alive by ticks and the last killer to Sekoya mosquitoes.  I had to change her diet to a grain-free kibble with added supplements and healthy human sides with the random raw chicken or turkey neck thrown in there.  I wasn't working, got pregnant and had a baby, poor Sekoya's life had to change.  A little guilt still rests in my soul for her. She gave me her all, all the time and I had to give to my new baby and my family first.  I wouldn't do it different, its just the way it goes.  She still always showed me her joy and her love.

Life in Tennessee was good for her, mellow, peaceful, not nearly as active as Utah mountain life but she was getting older so it was better.  She played hard frisbee on the seven acres of land running back and forth and back and forth, pretending she was running after the squirrels she just couldn't seem to catch.  Who really knows how long she has been favoring her left hip but after three years in Tennessee her hip went out to a severely debilitating case of arthritis in her left hip. DAMNIT!!!

I took her to the vet once again to find out if it was broken or what, no just a case of arthritis that she was favoring for a long time by the atrophy in her muscle and the extreme firm right muscle.  With some blood work we found she was suffering from heartworm in her lungs and heart making it hard for her to breath. This was the hardest to see...preventable by damn hearguard...AHHHH! I should have been more diligent, she was on it, but I forgot some months here and there and there again.  She had her first case of ear infections and a UTI as well.  The poor thing was feeling shitty so so shitty and she was done.  She wouldn't get up, she wouldn't eat, unless it was steak. She got some good food those last few days. She wouldn't drink much unless there was beef juice in it.  I sat with her, laying side by side gazing into each others eyes and I asked her what she needed, what she wanted.  Her pain was tough, her journey to healing still wouldn't allow her to run again, she was done and she was hurting.  The arthritis meds didn't help much either.

I knew to keep her feeling this way was for me not her.  Oh, it was so hard to make the decision to let go of my one true sidekick, the companion that chose me over anything else, I was her world, she took my energy, she gave me energy, she helped heal me through it all and she was the ultimate, non-judging, unconditional loving best friend anyone could have and now I have to say goodbye.

I found a Veterinarian who has her business on wheels. She drove to our house in her large truck. She quietly and respectfully approached us as we laid Sekoya under her favorite pine tree in the shade.  As we sat in the beautiful fall day watching the gusts of wind blow the leaves off the trees we spent the last passing moments together face to face.  I kissed her and petted her and stayed with her those few days til the last moment.  The passing was what I want mine to be like.   It was comfortable, relaxing, blissful and so much peace.  Tears flowed, deep breaths were taken by myself and I felt her spirit breeze by touching my heart.

Goodbye Sekoya forever my best friend. Never forgotten! I love you so so much girl.