Shedding Light on the Blog Title

Happy Monday!
Last week was hell...not that I want to get into it, but it was a nightmare from start to finish.  Enough said.

So, I thought it apt today to explain the somewhat obscure title of my blog.  I've already blogged about my writing endeavours over the years and suffice it to say that you have a general idea of the dream I once had about becoming a published author.

Alas, sometimes we put some dreams on the back burner while focusing for the moment on those that need more immediate attention.  What other dreams you ask and why should one take precedence over the other?  Let me elaborate if you'll be patient with me.

In 2005, I acquired the first rabbit of my adult life (my first rabbit, Cripps, I had had as a teenager and she passed away quite violently due to a veterinarian that prescribed her an antibiotic frequently fatal to rabbits).  This new rabbit was a little 4 month old white and black Mini Rex I affectionately named Glorfindel.  Yes, all you fellow Tolkien fans, he was named after the Rivendell Elf of the same name.

From our first day together, Glorfindel was the most special pet I had ever had.  He became part of my family and was a friend in times of need.

Knowing that rabbits were typically happiest as a pair, I acquired another rabbit named Legolas.  I was inexperienced enough at the time to be unsure of her sex, but once confirmed that she was female, I couldn't bring myself to change her name.  So, to this day, she is often known by the nickname Legolasina (insert laughter here).

Needless to say, I had fallen in love with rabbits as a species...I felt their fragility as keenly as my own and began to realize how many rabbits in our area were in need with no specialized shelter to help (our last local rabbit rescue had shut down some time ago).  A seed sprung in my mind to help those in need.  I wanted to start a rabbit specific rescue.  I endeavoured to raise money for the venture, although I have never been gifted in that area.

The following year - no money saved as of yet - my best friend and I found a little white and grey, obviously domestic rabbit, living in a cemetery.  After much effort over the course of a week, we managed to catch her and bring her home to safety.  Upon a visit to the pet store to buy some supplies to accommodate her, we found a rabbit there that had been abandoned.  She was a young siamese sable dwarf/mini rex mix and was "free to a good home."  I couldn't leave her there.  She came home to live with me and became Gypsy.

Do you believe in fate or omens?  Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, but that summer, the signs seemed there and I had to jump on it.  By September 2006, my best friend and I had founded New Moon Rabbit Rescue, had a board of directors and soon sent off the application for charitable registration.

Four years on, New Moon is a registered Canadian charity, has rescued approximately 180 rabbits, rehabilitated many of these from various illnesses and adopted most to loving forever homes.  With foster home organization, veterinary appointments, paperwork, giving media interviews, organizing events and of course, caring for ill rabbits that need our attention, the rescue is sometimes a full time job.

Perhaps it is lack of time management, stress of work and rescue related business and a propensity to procrastinate that has held me back from writing all these years.  Perhaps it was a need to put the needs of these precious animals above my own for at least a little while.

I am hoping that with my renewed love of writing, I can find a delicate balance between the rescue, work, writing and hobbies like knitting and sewing.

Maintaining that balance is key to me right now...I can put something less important on the back burner for a few days while I deal with deadlines, emergencies and the ilk, but I don't want to lose my renewed sense of self invoked by writing again.  These things in my life are all precious to me and as I have now accomplished and am living one beautiful, rewarding dream, I hope someday to fulfill a regretfully long neglected one.