All those years ago, I had been told to expect my baby on February 28th and the day actually passed quite nicely although I remember I was pretty fed up with being pregnant and with a big bump* I know I had washed my hair and drawn my eyeliner carefully and went down to the town where we were living. We had rented a place outside London. My husband was a student at London University and each day he scrambled out of bed and rushed to the station to catch the early train, not coming home until the mid evening.
So I had a lot of time to fill in during the day, and not knowing many people locally, I spent my days in the parks or at the shops, window shopping or doing real shopping and bringing it home in the wheeled shopper I had. Because I had no real idea of keeping house, I would ask my sister in law who sometimes visited, what to look for as I bought meat, or what meals to make that her brother might like. She was an invaluable source of knowledge to me, although she was much younger, she had had to learn how to housekeepe as her mother worked full time as did her father..
As usual, my husband returned for his meal and I was, I remember cooking bacon..boiling the leg of ham in a large pot, and with cabbage and potatoes to go with it.
I remember this, because I also managed to burn my wrist in the steam, as I tested whether the joint was cooked. It was a nasty burn and hurt a lot, but I got cold water and then a cream to sooth it. We then sat quietly listening to the radio as he worked on his papers.
Around midnight I noticed that my bump was one hard mass, and felt quite uncomfortable. Being first time parents, neither of us knew what this meant, so I rang the hospital and was told they would send an ambulance around to collect me. My hospital was in the centre of London, so quite a way away.
They arrived at last and we both traveled to the hospital where I was booked in, and he was told to make his way home. At three in the morning, there were no buses, so poor chap had to hitch a way to get home and of course it took him many hours, but he did finally manage to get to bed.
Meanwhile, I was told that I was in the very early stages of labour and not to worry and get to sleep as much as I can until the pains really would start. I lay there trying to sleep when I heard very loud screaming and then a baby cry. I thought to myself, 'oh, maybe this birth thing might be painful'** up to then I had not really thought about how and what, was going to happen. Of course I had seen the drawings and the explanations, but no real idea of what was coming!
At about 7.30 I was wheeled into the labour ward and left to cope with the mounting pain.. I recall that they bought me a cup of tea which I reached out to get, then the pain started in earnest and I did not manage to drink anything at all. The pain was huge and I was very very frightened.
They gave me gas and air, which I held on to for dear life, even when they disconnected the head from the tube..I started to count and count and count, and would get up to around 70 before the slowing of the pain and down the other side.. then it started again, over and over and over, and I know that I was held down by nurses as I tried to get off the bed, and I was convinced I was in a James Bond Movie and was being held prisoner by Smersh!
Finally at 4.29, my baby was assisted by forecepes and was born. My first reaction, was that he looked a very funny colour, all greyey blue, but soon the pink colour returned.
I know that I was asking over and over what colour was he, because I had been so worried that my colour skin would make him darker and his father's fairness would give him orange hair! However my fears were not realised and the little darling was beautiful with dark streaks of hair.
He was taken away, as they did in those days, for a 'cot rest', which meant I did not see him for his first four days of life.. and no one suggested that I was taken to see him in the nursury.
Since I met him for the first time that boy of mine has been a source of joy and love and not for one minute have I ever felt less than privilaged to have known him and now his darling family..
Tomorrow I will facetime him in Australia where he now lives. He has made a wonderful second family after his first marriage failed, and his son from the first marriage is comfortable with his stepmother and his brothers, so all is finally well in his life.
When I was younger, 48 seemed so far away, and now its my boy who will achieve that age tomorrow, how blessed I feel.
house
Saturday, 28 February 2015
Tomorrow
Tomorrow will be the first of March, and historically it is also St David's day in Wales, also the day we, as a family remember as the birthday of Chopin the Pianist and Composer, who is part of our family tree. #
All those years ago, I had been told to expect my baby on February 28th and the day actually passed quite nicely although I remember I was pretty fed up with being pregnant and with a big bump* I know I had washed my hair and drawn my eyeliner carefully and went down to the town where we were living. We had rented a place outside London. My husband was a student at London University and each day he scrambled out of bed and rushed to the station to catch the early train, not coming home until the mid evening.
So I had a lot of time to fill in during the day, and not knowing many people locally, I spent my days in the parks or at the shops, window shopping or doing real shopping and bringing it home in the wheeled shopper I had. Because I had no real idea of keeping house, I would ask my sister in law who sometimes visited, what to look for as I bought meat, or what meals to make that her brother might like. She was an invaluable source of knowledge to me, although she was much younger, she had had to learn how to housekeepe as her mother worked full time as did her father..
As usual, my husband returned for his meal and I was, I remember cooking bacon..boiling the leg of ham in a large pot, and with cabbage and potatoes to go with it.
I remember this, because I also managed to burn my wrist in the steam, as I tested whether the joint was cooked. It was a nasty burn and hurt a lot, but I got cold water and then a cream to sooth it. We then sat quietly listening to the radio as he worked on his papers.
Around midnight I noticed that my bump was one hard mass, and felt quite uncomfortable. Being first time parents, neither of us knew what this meant, so I rang the hospital and was told they would send an ambulance around to collect me. My hospital was in the centre of London, so quite a way away.
They arrived at last and we both traveled to the hospital where I was booked in, and he was told to make his way home. At three in the morning, there were no buses, so poor chap had to hitch a way to get home and of course it took him many hours, but he did finally manage to get to bed.
Meanwhile, I was told that I was in the very early stages of labour and not to worry and get to sleep as much as I can until the pains really would start. I lay there trying to sleep when I heard very loud screaming and then a baby cry. I thought to myself, 'oh, maybe this birth thing might be painful'** up to then I had not really thought about how and what, was going to happen. Of course I had seen the drawings and the explanations, but no real idea of what was coming!
At about 7.30 I was wheeled into the labour ward and left to cope with the mounting pain.. I recall that they bought me a cup of tea which I reached out to get, then the pain started in earnest and I did not manage to drink anything at all. The pain was huge and I was very very frightened.
They gave me gas and air, which I held on to for dear life, even when they disconnected the head from the tube..I started to count and count and count, and would get up to around 70 before the slowing of the pain and down the other side.. then it started again, over and over and over, and I know that I was held down by nurses as I tried to get off the bed, and I was convinced I was in a James Bond Movie and was being held prisoner by Smersh!
Finally at 4.29, my baby was assisted by forecepes and was born. My first reaction, was that he looked a very funny colour, all greyey blue, but soon the pink colour returned.
I know that I was asking over and over what colour was he, because I had been so worried that my colour skin would make him darker and his father's fairness would give him orange hair! However my fears were not realised and the little darling was beautiful with dark streaks of hair.
He was taken away, as they did in those days, for a 'cot rest', which meant I did not see him for his first four days of life.. and no one suggested that I was taken to see him in the nursury.
Since I met him for the first time that boy of mine has been a source of joy and love and not for one minute have I ever felt less than privilaged to have known him and now his darling family..
Tomorrow I will facetime him in Australia where he now lives. He has made a wonderful second family after his first marriage failed, and his son from the first marriage is comfortable with his stepmother and his brothers, so all is finally well in his life.
When I was younger, 48 seemed so far away, and now its my boy who will achieve that age tomorrow, how blessed I feel.
All those years ago, I had been told to expect my baby on February 28th and the day actually passed quite nicely although I remember I was pretty fed up with being pregnant and with a big bump* I know I had washed my hair and drawn my eyeliner carefully and went down to the town where we were living. We had rented a place outside London. My husband was a student at London University and each day he scrambled out of bed and rushed to the station to catch the early train, not coming home until the mid evening.
So I had a lot of time to fill in during the day, and not knowing many people locally, I spent my days in the parks or at the shops, window shopping or doing real shopping and bringing it home in the wheeled shopper I had. Because I had no real idea of keeping house, I would ask my sister in law who sometimes visited, what to look for as I bought meat, or what meals to make that her brother might like. She was an invaluable source of knowledge to me, although she was much younger, she had had to learn how to housekeepe as her mother worked full time as did her father..
As usual, my husband returned for his meal and I was, I remember cooking bacon..boiling the leg of ham in a large pot, and with cabbage and potatoes to go with it.
I remember this, because I also managed to burn my wrist in the steam, as I tested whether the joint was cooked. It was a nasty burn and hurt a lot, but I got cold water and then a cream to sooth it. We then sat quietly listening to the radio as he worked on his papers.
Around midnight I noticed that my bump was one hard mass, and felt quite uncomfortable. Being first time parents, neither of us knew what this meant, so I rang the hospital and was told they would send an ambulance around to collect me. My hospital was in the centre of London, so quite a way away.
They arrived at last and we both traveled to the hospital where I was booked in, and he was told to make his way home. At three in the morning, there were no buses, so poor chap had to hitch a way to get home and of course it took him many hours, but he did finally manage to get to bed.
Meanwhile, I was told that I was in the very early stages of labour and not to worry and get to sleep as much as I can until the pains really would start. I lay there trying to sleep when I heard very loud screaming and then a baby cry. I thought to myself, 'oh, maybe this birth thing might be painful'** up to then I had not really thought about how and what, was going to happen. Of course I had seen the drawings and the explanations, but no real idea of what was coming!
At about 7.30 I was wheeled into the labour ward and left to cope with the mounting pain.. I recall that they bought me a cup of tea which I reached out to get, then the pain started in earnest and I did not manage to drink anything at all. The pain was huge and I was very very frightened.
They gave me gas and air, which I held on to for dear life, even when they disconnected the head from the tube..I started to count and count and count, and would get up to around 70 before the slowing of the pain and down the other side.. then it started again, over and over and over, and I know that I was held down by nurses as I tried to get off the bed, and I was convinced I was in a James Bond Movie and was being held prisoner by Smersh!
Finally at 4.29, my baby was assisted by forecepes and was born. My first reaction, was that he looked a very funny colour, all greyey blue, but soon the pink colour returned.
I know that I was asking over and over what colour was he, because I had been so worried that my colour skin would make him darker and his father's fairness would give him orange hair! However my fears were not realised and the little darling was beautiful with dark streaks of hair.
He was taken away, as they did in those days, for a 'cot rest', which meant I did not see him for his first four days of life.. and no one suggested that I was taken to see him in the nursury.
Since I met him for the first time that boy of mine has been a source of joy and love and not for one minute have I ever felt less than privilaged to have known him and now his darling family..
Tomorrow I will facetime him in Australia where he now lives. He has made a wonderful second family after his first marriage failed, and his son from the first marriage is comfortable with his stepmother and his brothers, so all is finally well in his life.
When I was younger, 48 seemed so far away, and now its my boy who will achieve that age tomorrow, how blessed I feel.
Friday, 27 February 2015
Random thoughts in February*
My blog plays up and sometimes does not let me post, but this evening it has, so here goes....Of course the big thing, is what do I say, and since I dont know when I might be able to get on again, I better just leave something to read anyway..
.If any of you remember, after an operation on my spine, which three weeks later was operated on again, I was left with a condition called Cauda Equina Syndrome. Of course I was advised to see if I could sue the medics that did this to me. For the past years we have been collecting evidence and paperwork, and it is coming closer to the trial.
I have had to have private consultations with experts on the Bowel and Bladder and tests done as well, which is all good if it helps.. Next month I have the final meeting for my solicitors, with a pyschiatrist, who will investigate my mind set and how I have coped with the demeaning way I have to manage my self. I was warned that it could be very intrusive, but it will be an experience I am sure.,. and then for the other side, I have still to see a neuro surgeon who will meet me to assess how it happened..
this has been dragging on now since 011 when I had the ops, so I do hope that I will be successful in outcome of this case.. It isn't that its going to change my life, but it will ease it a bit financially if I win, and also since I am going to get worse, what help in the future will I need to pay for?
Its so difficult to sit and remember all the different things that happened during my stay in the hospital. I am the kind of character that just gets on with things, and frankly never been litigeous at all.
I just wanted someone to realise that the outcome of that operation, was awful, life changing, and they all wanted to just push it all under the carpet and never apologised either... just, 'well we did the operation, so thats that, now go away!'**
In trying to remember all the expenses that have incurred since my return home, I never kept receipts because I am not the small picture person, and never realised it might be useful in trying to quantify expenses incurred these four years. However I am sure that since I am innocent of causing this myself, the truth will out..
I certainly dont expect to win huge amounts, especially as I have to pay the solicitors and counsel for all the upfronting of costs they have had to do- -- it really is, just that I want them- the medical staff at that hospital- to be less cavalier in the future with other patients.!
I was discharged and the specialist wrote to my doctor saying I had been sent home with nothing wrong with me, when the truth was, I was incontinent both ends!! Afterwards he said he had gone on the notes of the nurses, and that was why he wrote that**
It came as a shock to me to learn that I had lost a litre of blood and nerves were sacrificed during the operation... so he must have known that I was not in perfect condition when I left the hospital........ Anyway, thats to be decided when the court meets, so keep a prayer that it turns out to my benefit**
Just having travelled to see my son in Australia, I was sooo nervous about travelling in this condition, changing two planes, plus carrying all the medicine and equipment.. But luckily I managed to cope, and during the two weeks there I only had an accident on the day before I left to come home.. These accidents happen anytime without warning and are very mortifying to say the least.
However now I have traveled that far, I will find my journey to Canada in June, quite a doddle as its a much shorter flight so happy that I am going to see my daughter and her family .. they have had the roughest year, which no one should go through. Their 16 year old son refused to give up smoking pot and drinking, so hes left home and they have no idea where he now is.. that little family is broken-hearted and lots of prayers are being said each side of the world..
The world has changed, that sixteen year olds who are so young really, can make all the major decisions in their lives and cut themselves off from their loving families.. The trouble also , is that the children have no respect for their parents and want everything on their own terms, so now that he has decided not to have anything more to do with his family ,they might never ever see him again- As a mother, my girl is going through Hell, but being HER mother, makes my heart break for her sadness that I cannot dispel ever.
In the old days, kids had to knuckle down and accept the authority of their parents, but not now, and it's left a whole section of youngsters with the feelings that they have rights, and expect to be respected, but no idea that respect is earned and that treating your parents with respect, they in turn respect you and your suitable wishes.
My grandson is a highly nervous child and I know that he thinks he is self medicating, but with the right medicines, his anxiety could have been lessened but he finds that doing illegal smoking is much more exciting and 'cool, so I despair of his coming home at any time soon.
Thursday, 12 February 2015
I am back!!
I returned on Monday of this week, from a magical wonderful holiday in Australia, staying with my eldest son, and his wife and two little boys. The weather was superb and although we did have rain and storms, I loved all of the experience.. My son was worried that the weather in Perth would be too hot for me, but as heat was dry, it didnt bother me at all. I had expected to return to England with a really dark tan, but as the Australians are so skin cancer aware, I was not allowed out with out a factor 30 cream and a very big hat and sunglasses, so although my skin did darken a bit, nothing like I was when I returned from the South of France last September. 
In fact my husband when he met me, did not straight away recognise me as I was not tanned as he had expected!
Moving in to stay with family especially with a daughter in law could have been disasterous, but it all went smoothly and no fights or awkward moments. I was also able to give them much needed respite and opportunity to get out a couple of evenings, just by themselves.
With their two sons, only 5 and almost 2, there is not much opportunity to manage an escape for a few hours. These boys keep them on their toes from 5.30 every morning until bedtime at 6!!
I was taken to so many places that were truly lovely, I am so glad that my camera held out and I got loads of pictures to bring back with me.
Of course the travel is long and very tiring, but now I have done it once, I will be back again, hopefully in two years when my son has a big O birthday.
I might in a few days manage to put up some photos to share, but until then, this is just a note to say I am back and had a wonderful time**
In fact my husband when he met me, did not straight away recognise me as I was not tanned as he had expected!
Moving in to stay with family especially with a daughter in law could have been disasterous, but it all went smoothly and no fights or awkward moments. I was also able to give them much needed respite and opportunity to get out a couple of evenings, just by themselves.
With their two sons, only 5 and almost 2, there is not much opportunity to manage an escape for a few hours. These boys keep them on their toes from 5.30 every morning until bedtime at 6!!
I was taken to so many places that were truly lovely, I am so glad that my camera held out and I got loads of pictures to bring back with me.
Of course the travel is long and very tiring, but now I have done it once, I will be back again, hopefully in two years when my son has a big O birthday.
I might in a few days manage to put up some photos to share, but until then, this is just a note to say I am back and had a wonderful time**
Sunday, 18 January 2015
Excitement
It is going to be the start of the week tomorrow, and I am now just starting to get excited. On Friday I will leave England to join my son and his wife and sons, in Perth Australia, for a two week visit. He married his second wife almost six years ago, and had their reception on our front lawn with a huge marquee. It was in June, and the evening was utterly magical. The happiness abounded and everyone was there including his dad, my first husband. They had a superb holiday in the tropics, and on their return told us that they were already expecting a child..
Of course I was over the moon and happy for them, and his son from his first marriage looked forward to having a sibling after such a long time as an only child. Baby Griffin was born in the January, and by the Spring of that year, all my darlings were settling in in Australia* I had thought that until baby was at least five years old he would know me as a granny and able to babysit like I had done for all my other grandchildren. But that was not to be, and although it broke my heart,just as it did when Gabriella took her husband and son to Canada, this was his road and I had to support it.
Saying its only a days' travel was easily reassuring, but the cost of the fares would be high and so not on my agenda for a long time- had to save up!!.
I am happy to say that Dan made a great success of his life in Australia and is happily soaring high in his chosen profession, whilst his wife has been on maternity leave and will return to her high powered job in February this year. They live outside Perth, not far from the sea, and I am going to be utterly charmed with their way of life I am sure.
I love the fact that all my kids have taken the flag and run harder, faster and further than their father and I , ever did. And that's what should happen, each generation doing better and better!
The only sad thing I have seen in my family,is that there is only one that feels faith in religion ... I gave them the basics, and they must do as they wish with that knowledge.
So in less than 6 days I shall be catching the plane and stopping off at Dubai, before arriving in Perth on Saturday 24th.
I shall be travelling alone, as my husband has not wished to renew his passport and will stay behind to care for the dogs and the house. It is sad, because once he is on holiday, he is such great company, but again, these are his wishes, and at least I am able to go.
This year will be busy as I shall also see Gaby in Canada in June, another great fortnight in store for me again. Tinged with a bit of sadness because her sixteen year old has left home and is not in touch with his parents at all. Such heartbreak he has wrought with the use of the drugs, and all we can do again, is pray he comes home one day , before he drifts into further waters which might not let him come back.
All a worry, but as I have said to myself so many times, we all have different roads to travel, if you can manage to travel alongside your kids you are lucky*
It promises to be a cold week, so I am in a quandry what exactly to wear to go away.. I think I shall leave my heavy overcoat in the car, and get it to put on, when John comes to collect me at the end of the holiday-that should be alright.
Going to Mass today, I was at the back with little ones making a huge noise so it was hard to hear the sermon, but I also lit candles for my grandson's safe return which made me cry less..
Faith is a hard thing to find and if you are lucky it will help in so many ways to overcome all sorts of hardships and difficulties. The best thing I ever did for both my parents was making sure that they had the Last Sacrament, which gave them both a deep feeling of comfort in their last hours.
I hope that one day I might be able to be just as sure as they were, that they would meet again in the next life. My mother was a convert and she got my dad to understand his own religion at a much deeper level, from all her questions, he had to find the answers and in so doing, discovered stronger feelings for his faith.
I have seen from many blogs, that people have not been as lucky as I was, having parents that both loved me and my brother without question. They made us feel that we could succeed at anything we really wanted to, and that helped us a long way towards becoming confident people.
When I go to Australia, I will be able to see how their love in me, and that which I passed on to my children, have helped them all to reap the best possible lives they could have.
Daniel took a big leap of faith leaving England where he was very appreciated in his high powered job as a 'Creative Director', to start looking for work in a foreign land. Making such a move was a big step for him, and by golly did he prove himself in the first years by getting himself an excellent job which he has grown further and now is in charge of his team and into making films for tv.
It is a couple of years since he visited with Griffin and stayed with me and joined his big son here. It was a smashing summer month and had loads of pictures to show how happy we all were.. I am sure that in a few days I will equal those numbers of pictures as I take them as records of another happy time with my family.. Can't wait!!
Thursday, 8 January 2015
its an outrage that shook us all!
I cannot believe that in the name of their god, those terrible murderers killed all those cartoonists in Paris yesterday!
Satire has been with us since time began.. and it is a necessary option to life being all wonderful and just so! Seeing the other side views of people, events and things makes the day laughable at times...
where on earth do these people get the idea that murder in any form is the right answer ?....
So they satirised their prophet, so what?? we have seen satire about the popes, Jesus,kings, queens countries, leaders etc etc from Roman and Greek times..
. what makes their prophet any more important??
I will tell you that by trying to accommodate all types of religions other than Christianity or Judaism in this country and Europe and the rest of the western world is going to lead up to a terrible war.. a Second Crusade as they ,the jihadi's are calling it..
Where are the leaders of the Muslim faith standing up to denounce such acts of terror.?... not heard in Public, that's for sure.!!
.. I am steaming over the senseless killing of perfectly kind nice funny humorous people going about their daily business and ending up dead!!
... and utterly incensed at that poor policeman who incidendentaly was a Muslim!
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Back to Biscuit Wednesdays..
Here we are again, biscuit wednesday is the day we go to collect John's grandsons after school and take them back to their house until their parents get back from work. We only do this day once a week, and over the years, starting when they were both at nursury, we have religiously managed to get over and collect and look after them. It means that we have had much more contact than the other grandparents, and we are so lucky. Watching them grow up week by week, being close to them, has brought great happpiness to my husband and myself.
Before we had this arrangement I had had quite a difficult relationship with his daughter, their mother. From the outset, despite me not being the reason that their parents' marriage had broken, she simply despised me, and being the eldest child, it meant that the other siblings did too.. so not a happy time all round. Then after the boys were born and she could see how much I really did love them too, she has changed enormously and we are quite good friends now, and her sister and brother are much nicer too! Having had five children of my own and three of them providing me with grandchildren, I already have 9 blood grandchildren, but these two boys were icing on the cake, and I loved them just as much as all the others.. But the best bit of Christmas this year past, was the fact that John's son and his wife gave the family a little girl called Amelia and she has made everyone so happy.
In the early days of our babysitting, we used to get the boys to practice their reading, but now that they are almost 10 and 8, and can read perfectly well, we have had to invent other things to do. John would rather be interacting with them, than sitting watching them watching tv, and so he tried to teach them Chess. This was a big success, and in fact the boys have taken to it so well, they sometimes beat their grandfather!
Football is another area where they can interact. John has found a renewed interest in knowing all about news of the football world, and the fact that both boys play for teams at the weekend makes it all so much more real. When I had my children, I had a boy then a girl, then another girl, finishing up with another two boys...so football was not heavily on our agenda. My boys seemed to prefer athletics or basketball , not really football. For myself, I can do without standing on the sidelines in the freezing cold, waiting for the teams to play.. god the times I got heavy colds doing that, doesn't bear thinking about.!!!
With the addition of this new granddaughter, I wonder what her delights will be... will it be ballet like for a lot of little girls, or running or tennis or netball.. all that to find out. At the moment she is only 10 days old and her future is all before her..lucky her..
The weather has been grey and quite miserable, but that is to be expected for winter isnt it? We forget, having had a reasonable summer last year, just how grey and wet and cold it can be in Winter, but once January is out of the way and the little buds start appearing and spring seems round the corner, the cold seems more bearable.
This January I am quite getting excited, because on the 23rd of this month I am going to visit my son in Australia. He lives there in Perth with his second wife and their two sons. I have never visited before, so its going to be quite an adventure.
If you have read previous posts, I have Cauda Equina Syndrome, which means my nether parts are part paralysed, so I have no idea when is happening down below, and have to be pretty aware and manage as best I can, so this long trip will tax all my strength to keep on top of my necessary needs and medications. I tried late last year to visit my brother in the South of France and that went pretty well, so gave me confidence to seek further afield flights.. I am sure I will have the holiday of a lifetime and cannot wait to get started.
Luckily my husband is content to stay home and he will do the collecting and babysitting on his own with the boys. They are really such easy kids to care for.. as long as they are fed and watered and happily playing games or reading, we do not get any trouble from them at all. Probably because we do go home and not there all the time!
The live about a forty minute drive from us, so easily driven there. Their house is a very large semi in a very pretty village. It would be nice, if when we downsize from our Rectory, we could find a home in the same village, but that is not going to be for a couple more years. anything might happen in that time.
It would be most pleasant though to be able to be near the boys and in a smaller house in a pretty village..we shall see.
With Amelia, we have offered babysitting too, although they are just over an hour away...I know that with distances in Canada and America ,much larger distances are usually between families, so its quite viable to offer our services to her, as we would love to be just as involved as with the boys.
So, I am getting ready to put my coat on, take my crochet to do, and a book to read maybe, and we shall be off in a minute...
Biscuit Wednesdays are so called, because in the early days, there was always a large tin of biscuits for the boys to eat from, and that is how it got its name*
Saturday, 3 January 2015
another New Year
Well, here we are again, at the start of a whole new year before us.To celebrate this, I managed to get my page on facebook totally wrong, and was issued with another one, so my original is still here, but I cannot access it unless as a friend... which is utterly stupid, but thats my fault of course* I cannot be thinking straight as I simply could not fix it, and found answers in the forum utterly odd to understand... so I am stuck with trying to friend all my friends, who really are wondering why, since they were already friends**
At the start of each new year, the newspapers go into overdrive about the past year and what has been achieved..so I am ruminating here, about what I have actually managed to achieve also..
Since my spinal ops went so wrong almost five years ago, I have not ventured to travel on holiday at all, preferring to do short trips to friends who are very understanding if my body plays up whilst I am with them. Because I am semi paralysed in the lower regions I do not know what is going on there, and can, at times be caught 'very short' and that really is a mess. However during late summer, I was given an amount of money that was a refund, and straight away I bought myself a ticket to visit my brother in his home in the South of France. I went for two weeks, and my body behaved right up until the last day, and luckily we were still at the house, so no disasterous event outside in public*
My two weeks were spent in utter easiness with my dear Sister in Law making all the meals, she would not let me help at all... Dinner parties with friends, and daily swimming in their garden swimming pool. The weather was not too hot, and I can tell you it was utter bliss. Added to that, my son Chris and his wife Amy joined us for a few days on their way back from driving around Spain.. magical days indeed.
Heartened by this wonderful holiday, I then booked another two weeks in the sun, but this time all the way away in Australia, to see my eldest son, Daniel and his two boys and second wife. They all live in Perth and I am so looking forward to seeing them soon, as I will be leaving on the 23rd of this month! I have even got tickets to visit my daughter in Canada for another two weeks in June. So in a way, last year I managed to break the spell of being bound by my body and have managed to fly further afield. I am looking forward to it, a bit nervous, true, but if I have a disaster, then so be it... cannot worry about it, it might never happen..
I guess that is what I am going to carry with me into this New Year.. That it is absolutely no use worrying about all the 'what ifs',.just to go ahead and DO It!
Apart from my acting more positively, I have also been praying a lot for my grandson in Canada. As soon as he turned 16 last May, he left home as he is addicted to smoking Pot, and would not give it up.. He had also been diagnosed with Aspergers' syndrome, but will not take the meds to calm his acute anxiety, finding smoking his way of self medicating. It has been an utter nightmare for his parents seeing their child living in half way houses and hanging out with the 'no hopers' in town.
Where it will all lead, we are dreading to think,but I can tell you, a great deal of prayers have been going on.. his parents are still leaving the door open, but at the moment he has decided that he wants nothing more to do with them or his little sister.. so Christmas this year was a hard one for that little family.
When I see people making light of smoking marijuanna,I get very upset, as it can destroy young brains, and I have seen it happen all too many times.
He knows that he is truly loved, but chooses not to try and see it from their view, he is convinced that he is the only one with the right opinions and attitudes, so it will be a long time, if ever, before he returns home to his family and lives comfortably with them again.
Of course he was given everything he wanted, and my girl and her husband worked hard to achieve a high level of comfort, but none of that matters if the family heart is broken.
My New Year this year, no resolutions, just a determination to try and live life day by day, and 'not to sweat the small stuff' as they say, and I hope all of you have a great and enjoyable Year, this New Year.
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