img 18.Aug.2025

I thought it was time I updated my website, I didn’t realise it’s been over a year since I last updated it…. Shame on me!

So where do I start, because let’s face it fourteen months is a long time and a lot of things can happen in that time, which is certainly the case for me!

This year has been a difficult one, both mentally and emotionally coupled with a mixture of highs and lows, and If I’m honest, I’d say there were more lows than highs, but isn’t that life? You take the good with the bad!!

In March I lost my dad unexpectedly to Bronchial Pneumonia, he was the kind of man who had a friend everywhere he went, and this was none more evident than the day of his funeral, a very sad day but a day I will cherish for ever along with all the wonderful stories and anecdotes I heard that day of a man that lived his life his way and a man who was loved by so many.

My dad truly was one of a kind!

Following on from my dad’s untimely death, On April 11th I lost my companion Eddie, my Staffordshire bull terrier, he was only eleven and halve years old, and I honestly thought he would have lived so much longer, even if he had of lived a few more years, I still don’t think I would have been ready to lose him!

His loss hit us hard, it’s difficult to explain that pain you feel when you lose something so special, because to me and Kim he really was special!

I know some people say ‘he’s just a dog’ but to us he was more than that, he was our soul dog, and losing him is not that kind of loss I think we will come to terms with any time soon, and this was even more apparent yesterday when I was talking to someone about him and they simply asked me if I had a favourite memory of Eddie that still made me smile?

So I thought about it for a moment, it’s so difficult to pick out a particular memory after eleven and a half years, but I did think about the times we would venture out into the countryside and wonder through the endless lanes for miles, sometimes even managing to get ourselves lost!

As I was talking I could feel the hurt and pain hit me like a ton of bricks, the emotions of losing him opened up all over again, over a simple question, but the truth is I haven’t dealt with losing Ed, I’ve just got on with everyday life and buried those feelings away in a tiny little box somewhere that I hoped to never have to open!

But I guess it was always going to be hard talking about Eddie in the past tense, because that is accepting that he has gone and we don’t hear him huffing and puffing as he stands in the living room doorway looking back towards the stairs because it’s nine pm and he wants to go to bed, which in turn means It’s my time to go to bed as well! (for those with a bully breed, I’m sure you can relate?)

The memories still hurt, the tears still sting the backs of my eyes and my heart still aches for the loss of my boy, but I know deep down inside one day I will be able to talk about him without the heartache or the tears, and hopefully in time revisit all those wonderful country lanes with Delilah and reminisce about the times spent there with Eddie.

They do say with each passing comes new beginnings, and that is especially true for us as a family, because after all the grief we finally got to celebrate the birth of my beautiful granddaughter ‘Aria’ who came into this world on Sunday 20th July, Kim was amazing and continues to be the best mummy to her beautiful little girl.

I can honestly say we are all so in love with her, she really is the blessing we needed so much and it’s so lovely having anew born baby in the house again, you forget how tiny they are and how amazing it feels to just sit there on the sofa cuddling a baby, it really is special.

Well, I think I have said enough for one day, but I promise not to leave it so long next time.

Much love

Anna Leigh