I’ve known for the last month that our trip to North Carolina with Zoe to compete in the AKC Nationals was not looking good. My husband came home the first part of January from work and told me that it was so slow that they were considering lay-offs. Being the perpetual optimist that he is, he wasn’t ready to cancel the trip. He wanted to wait till Feb. to see if things had picked up, as there was still a small possibility of things working out. So, I put off posting about this till we made a final decision. As the month wore on, the lay-offs became a reality for some of the employees, including a very good friend of ours. 
It wasn’t till last week that my husband finally said: “It doesn’t look very good for our trip to Nationals…” then he finished by saying: “but, it’s only Wednesday!” LOL
February is now here and we’ve made the decision to cancel the trip. It seems that for the moment his job is still “secure”, although I don’t think any jobs are secure these days. The problem is that with the lay-offs they need all the remaining employees to be able to step up “if” more work comes in, and so taking a two week vacation is just not possible right now.
I’d be lying to say that I’m not incredibly disappointed! I kind of felt like this was a once in a lifetime shot to compete with one of my dogs at a National level…but life goes on.
Awww…too bad! This is another side effect of the economic condition of the county, things like these dog trials will not be as populated as they might have been as people are sticking close to home and hunkering down. I’m sorry you don’t get to go. The Carolina’s would be nice in the spring! But maybe someday…
Dawns last blog post..Agility…but we’re not that agile! Either of us.
Yeah, Dawn, we were making it our 15th anniversary trip and an agility trial all wrapped into one! I was really looking forward to it!
I’m so sorry to hear it!!! But hopefully you will get to make it another year. Zoe isn’t done with agility just yet right? And you have a little layla star up and coming!!!
Christys last blog post..The Fastest English Pointer!
Christy,
You’re right, Zoe’s not ready to retire from agility yet, but I did decide to retire her from AKC agility since we aren’t going to try for another MACH. So, that means that she won’t have another chance at an AKC Nationals. But, who knows…maybe we’ll get to go to DOCNA’s Championships instead.
So sorry to hear that this you aren’t able to go. Maybe it wasn;t meant to be. Don;t give up hope. You could try again for next year and maybe someday the little one will take you there.
So sorry to hear you have to cancel your trip, Marie….I agree though about maybe some day! Things have to get better eventually.
Thanks Astrid,
I’m not giving up hope. I’m just disappointed. That’s all.
Hi Ricky,
True, someday I hope that one of my other dogs will be competing as consistently as Zoe has, but if not, that’s ok too.
Awww, Marie, I’m sorry that you had to cancel. It’s not only disappointing in the normal sense, but (for me, at least) it feels like I have somehow let somebody down.
But don’t you get caught up in that “once in a lifetime” thing. You’re an incredible agility trainer and I think you’re going to be one of those people who has such a “once in a lifetime” opportunity every few years! Besides, you have Layla!!
SheltieJims last blog post..Change in This Blog’s Registration Policy
Jim,
You are always so kind. In hindsight the statement that I used of “once in a lifetime” was overly dramatic, it just fit the mood at the time. LOL
All is well and the dogs quickly reminded me that we have sooo much to be happy about, there’s no sense wasting time and energy on dwelling on things we can’t change.
that’s sooo awful, I’m so sorry you won’t be able to go. It makes me very sad too.
Cynthias last blog post..Tatum and Muffit and Agility Practice
Cyn,
Maybe we can go to the DOCNA championships this year instead. That would be a fun trip!