For about 12 months now there has been a black dog skirting the grounds of our garden trying to force his way in. We’ve watched this dog with care and vigilance, since occasionally he would get too close, and we had seen him before. But now, the dog is in the house and we are having to deal with it. It looks like we are going to make some changes, which, we hope, will get rid of him for good. Fingers crossed.
To our friends watching from the outside the transition from one phase of our lives to the next may seem chaotic and fraught with danger. But believe me, if it is the only way to deal with the black dog then that is what we will do.
We have both had careers in management so we are both aware that people react differently to change. It can bring opportunity or despair. Hope or fear. I suspect we are expecting both. I run through a few permutations in my head and then remind myself that despite the uncertainty there are billions worse off.
Mrs. Monkey and I have always known that there would come a time when we would have to do something different from the norm. Those who know us closely will understand, I’m sure. There is to be no “retirement” or slipping into our dotage as you would normally understand it since, as it stands today, I am 64 and Mrs. Monkey is 48. We must, therefore, plan for our “autumn” years differently to everyone else. Now the black dog is in the house and he is forcing upon us choices we thought were coming later.
What faces us is a minestrone. But a tasty one, we hope. I may have used this allusion before. We could have gazpacho, but that is cold. And as there are as many soups there are as many lives and futures. We can hunker down or we can lift our head and scan the horizon with tomato stains down the front of our shirts.
Whatever the future holds let’s say that we lived it and not that we watched it float by like a fly in the soup. (See how I’m pulling all these metaphors together? 😂)
Let us slurp to our hearts content and play the spoons when we’re finished. Life in all it’s flavours. There’ll be more to come..stay tooned soup fans.
(I don’t know who owns these great images. I’d give them credit if I could.)
singlemaltmonkey 
Damn the black dog. But the soup is going to be wonderful. Xx
Thank you. We hope so…
I just sent a comment, which backfired, and then the back button took me to a redirect, and a forward button took me to a blank comment box.
Ah, but when others are facing serious challenges, one needs to embrace silly frustrations like a lost comment.
I hope that that black dawg finds a comfortable place at the steps of your house or on the porch, accepts that you acknowledge its presence, but it makes no new attempts to alter your home….
Thanks, Lisa. We’re dealing with it but he’s a persistent critter. We’ll win.