When I first started this blog, I envisioned it as a place where I could research and write about my favorite thing: dogs. I had visions of grandeur, picturing series on everything from raising a puppy to managing a cancer diagnosis. I wanted to interview my local vets, spend hours studying animal massage, and perusing academic databases for the latest innovations in veterinary care.

But as a former college instructor and current professional writer/editor/marketing guru, the blank page still intimidates me and the pressure for each post to be perfectly outlined, drafted, and proofread looms large. As it turns out, this requires a lot of time and effort for every post, which really means that I end up writing nothing at all.

So in an effort to break free from these self-imposed ideals and constraints, I’m starting this blog series: Life Lessons From My Senior Dog. The goal isn’t to craft well-researched educational posts with tons of citations and suggestions for additional reading. Instead, my focus is on stream-of-consciousness writing documenting the daily struggles, joys, and hurdles of loving and caring for a senior dog.

My dogs’ little faces have grown whiter as the years have gone by. I’ve now realized how much I crave resources and support to guide me as I navigate the difficult transition of loving my pups in their golden years. It’s hard to put how it feels loving and caring for a senior pet into words, but in starting this series, I’m taking a leap of faith that getting my thoughts and feelings out on the page might not only help me cope with the daily gifts and challenges but also provide a source of comfort and support to others who are on this path as well.

My goal here is to be as authentic as possible, to treat this series as a journal of sorts where I can document this journey day by day or week by week or whatever haphazard schedule I’ll follow when I have the time and emotional energy to write. I’ll do my best to make it so that posts make sense on their own and so things don’t have to be read in a certain order to be understood, but we’ll see how well I stick to that as time goes by.

I want to be transparent about what it takes and what it looks like for me without filtering everything I want to say through a lens of peer-reviewed research and multiple rounds of drafting and proofreading. In other words, I’m preemptively forgiving myself for any academically unsubstantiated observations, shamelessly public soul-searching, brutally honest details, and unforgivable typos.

If you’d like to join me on this journey, welcome and get ready to learn everything a senior dog can teach you. I’m so happy you’re here.