A Fresh Start

This Post by Gayle M. Irwin

Although we may not agree based upon where we live, the calendar states spring is only 10 days away. I love spring – colorful flowers protruding from the ground, tree buds breaking forth, the ground and air refreshed after a rain (or spring snow). Spring is all about fresh starts.

Our blind dog, Sage, passed away nearly a year ago. My husband and I had to have a fresh start in life without her. The sudden realization of her cancer and her ultimate passing gave us quite a jolt; not only had she been part of our family for more than a decade, she had also been the catalyst to my book endeavors, and she traveled with me to schools, libraries and bookstores: we had a partnership in many ways. No one ever “replaces” someone or something they love, but one’s life must go on – new starts can be found.

Sage and Gayle at Barnes and Noble in Billings MT.

A fresh start came our way about a month ago when we adopted Mary, a half-springer/half-cocker we found through a dog rescue organization we support. My husband and I had been thinking of adopting again, but we needed to find “just the right dog”: we have two cats and a 15-year-old male cocker. Also, I had been toying with the idea of participating in pet therapy, taking a new dog we’d adopt to nursing homes, hospice, libraries, children’s hospitals, etc., so our “needs” in a dog were pretty stringent. Mary had already gone through the therapy training, she had been raised with cats, and she was good with other dogs. Her demeanor was noted as “calm”, and she was a bit older, middle-aged actually. Her owner died unexpectedly, and the family, in shock, wasn’t sure what to do, so they contacted the rescue group. Mary’s life, similar to ours a year ago, was in turmoil; we offered her a fresh start, and she has given that to us as well.

I’ve already taken Mary to a bookstore, and this week she and I will be tested as pet therapy partners. Already the “freshness” of life together is bursting forth, much like the buds on my apple trees or the daffodils rising in the front flower beds.

We all need fresh starts, whether it’s simply from winter to spring in nature’s seasons or from the cold, windy times of our lives to sunny, more smiling days. I’ve smiled a lot more in the past three weeks after adopting Mary than I have since losing Sage. We have a new beginning, with the pet therapy program and through the cozy snuggle Mary gives us while sitting in our recliners; I even see a renewed spring in our old cocker spaniel’s step since Mary has come to live with us.

Writers often need a fresh start. Perhaps it’s pruning chapters or characters, or maybe it’s trimming dialogue… it may even include starting over and beginning the book with a different setting. Three years ago I started a story about dog rescue; it’s geared for middle readers and families, teaching them about the selfless volunteers who serve homeless pets through rescue organizations and the startling statistics of those animals. This spring I started fresh – a writing class I took at the college gave me opportunity to refresh the manuscript, just like spring renews the landscape. I completely re-wrote the beginning; my first draft was “a downer”… I needed the beginning to be more upbeat to keep readers reading. Yes, the story will have sadness because dogs (and cats) that are rescued usually have a sorrowful backstory. But, the ending is positive, and I needed the start of the story to reflect the positive that will happen in the end. My manuscript, like my own life now, has a fresh start… just as spring tantalizes its arrival in my part of the world.

It was 55 degrees and sunny Thursday and Friday last week; a skiff of snow lay on the ground Saturday morning. Welcome to springtime in the Rockies! I still smiled for our landscape needs the moisture, and those flowers and trees will be soaking that layer of wet through their roots, giving themselves a refreshing drink and producing vibrancy in just a few weeks.

Are you like those flowers, needing refreshment in your life? Where do you need a fresh start? Does your writing need some pruning or perhaps a total re-write? Does something in your personal life need renewal? My book Walking in Trust: Lessons Learned with My Blind Dog reflects refreshment, through faith, rest, joy, love, loyalty and other topics. Sage reflected all of those traits, and she helped me to “see” where I needed to implement them more diligently. I look forward to what Mary will teach me as well. It’s wonderful to have a fresh start! May this spring be a time of renewal for you, too!

A “renewal” of sorts has also come for Walking in Trust… – which was released last October – in the form of a review from Midwest Book Reviewers; a review will also appear in the April edition of WREN, Wyoming’s electric cooperative magazine, a publication that periodically reviews books written by Wyoming authors.

Gayle M. Irwin is the author of Walking in Trust: Lessons Learned with My Blind Dog and other books about her dogs, including stories for children. Learn more about her writing and speaking at www.gaylemirwin.com.