Quiet Time

~ Debra Mesecke

It occurred to me recently, I don’t think I shared with you Murray’s interaction with the affore mentioned swan family in a previous post, which I do believe requires some clarification. I must have missed sharing because it occurred in my darker months of Autumn last year, so here goes.

So as mentioned, it was a dark day (all be it internally) and yet I made myself get up and walk the dog along the river. Being the river and no one else around, I took the liberty to let the dog off the lead. All was well & as usual he lost two tennis balls because this was at the stage where he only went into the water where he could touch, so if the ball floated away, it was sayonara.

Well we get to one end of the bridge and it was his time to drop a shit, however he’d had the squirts and as luck would have it, he squatted over a horse shit, so there was literally nothing to pick up, when I heard a male yell from across the other side of the river “PICK IT UP”. Blood boiling I walked on to the end of the bridge then turned to head for the other.

As we neared the other bridge Murray spotted a young swam family nucleus, complete with mum, dad and 4 swanletts. He spent a lengthy time wanting to meet the family but was held at bay by a very brave & protective dad. I was so proud of the swan holding his ground to protect his family. And in my head I thought Murray would never hurt it, just wanted to investigate. I knew he wouldn’t go in past his depth to get to the young swans and their mum and the dad could fly if he needed to. Despite all that, a judging walker decided to come down the riverbank and check out the barking and do an enormous eye roll and sigh in disgust that I would allow my dog torment a defenseless bird (however if you watch the video it is indeed the other way around).

Murray is just out of screenshot barking at the swan, while the swan guards the bank. Bear in mind the swan swam over to the bank to prevent the dog from getting in the river.

So having let two strangers further darken my day, I put the dog on the lead and walked home. The next day with new vigour, I attempted the same walk again. This time a solid poo I could pick up and no sign of accusing eyes in either direction….And then……he spied the swan family. We’ll call them, the swan family.

As we all know there has been a drought so much to Murray’s delight and surprise he can touch all the way through the water to the other side of the river bank. The dad swims over all brave and this time Murray holds his ground and starts to enter the water. The swam bites back and this to and fro goes on for a few minutes, subtly getting deeper and deeper until Murray has a light bulb moment and realises, he’s close to the middle of the river and can touch.

Dad swan has the same revelation simultaneously, shrieks to his parter to take the kids as far as possible, turns, and takes fight in the opposite direction of his family with intent to lure Murray away, which of course works and he tries to chase. Great distraction method… a very wise swan.

Murray soon quits the chase (As despite his efforts, he can’t fly) but merrily romps through the water to the other side of the river and dumps a cable, where inevitably a walker, similar looking to the eye roller the day before, sees him.

Meanwhile I’m thinking the council is going to lock the dog up after this because she will be bound to make a complaint along with yesterday’s male hollerer.

As I’m screaming at Murray to COME I watch the swan family reunite. Dad and mum swimming towards each other squarking with kids in tow, finally they reach each other and lock necks. True love.

The next day I take Murray for a long walk off a short jetty, and promise him he is never going off the lead again on the river. The swan family still live together and Murray still wants to meet all the members.

Happy days xx

Murray on the lead.

Published by Debra Mesecke

I was 21 and I was planning a wedding, buying a house and had a job interview for the job of my dreams on my 22nd birthday.  You see I was being made redundant and had to find a new job by August.  Especially with the new mortgage now.  It was April.  I worked for CML and my new job was a done deal.  All I needed was a medical.  And with that, just like that....my life was turned upside down and I was diagnosed with CML, ha ha, I know the irony.  My hematologist had a laugh at that too.  I had Chronic Myeloid Leukeamia, which was normally reserved for 70 year old men.  Quite rare for a young adult to get, so how would they treat it?  I underwent two separate trials until finally it was decided my best chance of survival (all be it only 50% chance), would be a MUD BMT (matched unrelated bone marrow transplant), now known as VUD Allograt (volunteer unrelated donor).  I was told 21 years ago the chance of finding a match was 1 in 20,000 (and that is everyone was on the bone marrow donor registry).  Scary odds. So being the risk taker I am I said "go for it".  They found a match and that was my first miracle in this journey.  The second miracle was, it worked - new blood type, two different DNA profiles and the miracle of medicine was reborn inside me.  The third miracle is my son.  25 years on, I now face a new challenge.  Breast Cancer.  Certainly not the first person to have cancer, to have invasive ductile cancer, hormone receptive and HER2 +, or to even have a dual diagnosis.  But this is not another Webiste about a cancer survivor, this is just my excuse to finally publicly write.  Along the way I  am hoping I can share some insights I have learnt over the years and at the same time, give you a good belly laugh.