2025 was a heavy year in a lot of ways – and amazing in a lot of others.
It’s hard to talk about last year without mentioning our queen, Blodwyn, who we lost on January 2nd, 2025. She fought hard that last year, bless her heart. It was obvious that things were going downhill for a long time – her mobility issues and incontinence were unavoidable signs – but she kept us laughing, right to the end.
Her organs started to fail that last day, leaving us with the choice no pet owner ever wants to have to make. Luckily for us, the PDSA were there for us, every step of the way. They let us take her home one last time to say goodbye to the others and, ooh boy, was THAT hard. Dylan threw up, Khaaaan cried, and Lily just pressed herself to Blod’s side like she couldn’t get close enough. We showed her the yard one last time, promised to bring her home, and made our way back to the animal hospital.
Blod, being Blod, wasn’t going on anyone else’s terms. After the vet explained what she was doing and what would happen next, we said our goodbyes and just held on. And…
Blodwyn started snoring.
Yup, SNORING.
Girl was having the best sleep of her life.
The vet was MORTIFIED, but we couldn’t stop laughing because it was the most Blodwyn thing Blodwyn had ever done. She gave us the holidays. She gave us New Year. And she gave us one last laugh.
That’s why she’ll always be our Queenie.
As promised, Blod’s ashes are here, with Sweep’s, waiting for Dylan to join them. (Hopefully a LONG time from now.)
Boy, did that girl leave a hole in our lives. We struggled through the next few months before coming to the conclusion that we just had to get a puppy to break the silence.
Turns out…
It took TWO puppies to fill the void Blod left.
We called it our little compromise: Jay wanted a short-haired, I wanted a wire-haired.
We got both.
It was stupid. It was expensive.
It was the best fucking idea ever.
Helga and Von are thick as thieves (and twice as devious.) They’re growing up together as sisters & best friends, which is amazing to watch.
Not to mention exhausting. So, so exhausting. 🤣
Lily went from being the puppy to be the ever-watchful, (mostly) patient nanny figure and she OWNED it – which is saying something, considering the absolute mayhem the Twins of Evil unleashed on our lives. Khaaaan was instantly in love with both of them, of course, while Dylan… took some coming around.
He’s the walking embodiment of “I’m too old for this shit,” that dog.
I kept joking that five dachshunds couldn’t be that different from four – but the joke was on me! Lol. It’s so, so much more overwhelming. 90% of the time, I freaking love it. (We won’t talk about Helga’s first season. Yikes.) The other 10%…
Well, I am going grey!
So… that’s our family now: Me, Jay, Dylan, Khaaaan, Lily, Helga, and Von.
Wow.
Hopefully, we’ll get to do another photoshoot to commemorate our crazy little family while Dylan is still with us. At 15 and 10, those boys of ours are getting on.
Guess we all are…
Which leads me to the other thing that dominated our year.
There were some pretty heavy health diagnoses in 2025. Multiple Sclerosis has certainly taken its toll but, although I need a stick all the time and a walker sometimes (and a whole lotta naps in between,) I’m, as the man says, still standing.
(Wearing a hearing full-time, but standing. Just… face me, so I can see what you’re saying!)
Here’s hoping it stays that way a good, long time! In the meantime, I have to wait until my yearly MRI to find out if the infusion I’m getting (that makes me immunosuppressed and kept me ill for a good part of the year) is helping. Last year’s MRI showed that the lesions had spread into my spine, which isn’t great, but is totally expected with PPMS. (Or, as a friend called it, “the super sucky turbo version.”)
Of course, that MRI also showed Degenerative Disc Disease, which explains why my neck ALWAYS hurts and is another thing to deal with. *eyeroll*
Jay says when I eventually die, someone will shout, “House!” because I’ll finally have a full card of diseases. *sigh* He’s not that wrong… the list does seem to keep getting longer!
I’m learning to manage my AuDHD diagnosis, which is… *sigh* I’m still trying to understand what’s Autism, what’s ADHD, what’s Borderline Personality Disorder, and what’s just me. Who knows if I’ll ever figure it out? Luckily, I have an amazing support network to help me through it.
Thank the gods for the NHS! I can’t believe we almost ended up going back to America to live. *shudder* What a horrible thing THAT would have been!
For so, so many reasons.
But I’m not giving Wussolini any space here. Fuck him.
It takes more planning and…
(Hah. If you want an example of how chaotic my life is now, I just had to launch my laptop across the sofa to try and grab a dog before they vomited all over a blanket. I did not. Eww. Lol.)
Anyway. It takes more planning and a lot more rest for us to get out and about these days. We have my disabilities and Jay’s disabilities and five dogs to work around, after all.
That in mind, we didn’t get to visit most of the restaurants we wanted to try last year, but we did get to some great shows. (Even though we did miss out on some concerts and some conventions because LIFE.) The highlight of the year (for me, at least) was (of course) the Twenty One Pilots concert in Birmingham.
*minor fangirl moment*
Was 2025 a good year? Was it a bad one? I don’t really know how to measure that anymore. We made good memories – but bad ones right alongside them. There were ups and downs and fears and laughter and I guess that’s just the way these things go. Especially now.
All I do know is that 2025 was one helluva year and, foolish or not, I’m just about ready to face 2026 and see what it has in store for us.
Tomorrow, obviously. You can’t start these things on a Sunday. 😉
