Friday 29 January 2016

Stress & sadness on the patch but a jolly good Christmas was had :o)

It's been a good 7 months since I last blogged, but life here has been somewhat difficult at times.

Three weeks after my last blog in June, my Mum died & although we lived 300 miles apart, that didn't lessen the shock or the sadness.  She'd been ill for quite a while & had gone into hospital the week before, but we all expected her to go home again - she always had in past. This time, though, she went & died instead. 
And that's not what you expect your Mum to do, is it ? 

Every Sunday afternoon since I got married, we'd chat on the phone & for a few months, Sunday's were hard to get through. My Dad always used to answer the phone & we'd have a few words before he passed the phone over to my Mum. Fairly typical of kids, no matter how old they are  - they always chat to Mum & poor ol' Dad gets everything second hand :o)  But now Dad & I chat instead. It's different, but it's comforting in a way :o)  I've also learned how to Skype, which he's been doing for quite a while, so that's something we do now, as well.

Shaun was also in & out of hospital  from January to November for various things and there's now the possibility of a big operation sometime this year, unless those in the know can come up with something else. 

With everything that had happened, Christmas wasn't something I was looking forward to. I've always loved Christmas & especially the excitement in the run up to it - buying & making cards & presents, wrapping them, putting up the tree & the decorations, but I just couldn't get into the spirit of it this time, even with two excited little grandsons.  I just seemed stressed to the point of exploding & pebble dashing everything around me :o) I didn't even watch *It's a Wonderful Life*, something I've done in December for as long as I can remember.

I knew it was going to be difficult, but my daughter & her partner asked us round for Christmas dinner & they made it so lovely & special. It was the first Christmas Day I'd not cooked dinner since I was 20, so it really was a treat. We had a wonderful day & I just cried like a baby at the presents they gave me. They were such thoughtful presents & so *me* :o)

From the boys I had a key ring of 3 washer type rings, one large brass coloured one & 2 smaller silver ones. Engraved /punched on the larger one it said 
*This Grandma belongs to* and the smaller ones had the boys' names on. It's just so lovely but I can't put it on my keys in case it gets scratched, so at the moment, it's still in it's box on my bedside table. 

The present from my daughter & her partner, though,  just blew me right out of my elf slippers :o) 

Yes, these very ones !!



Back in the summer, we'd gone into Halfords to get the boys a pair of cycling gloves each. They'd seen the cut down ones Shaun has for wearing on his whizzy whizzy & they both decided they wanted to be like Grandad :o) 

Anyhooooo. I left Shaun to make his way upstairs in the lift & I walked up the stairs. As soon as I got on the top step, there, right in front of me was THE most beautiful bike :o) It was very *Call the Midwife* in style - peppermint green in colour, cream tyres, a wicker basket on the front, leather seat, leather hand grips & a rack on the back to carry things on. I  walked past it to get the cycling gloves, but I kept going back to look at it. As soon as Shaun came out of the lift I told him I'd got the gloves but *come & look at this bike - isn't it gorgeous ???*

Later in the day, I told my daughter we'd got the gloves for the boys & I mentioned that I'd seen a lovely bike. We had a bit of a back & forwards about what it looked like & that was it. I thought no more about it until, on Christmas Day, I was presented with it !!  It was such a surprise. I had no idea she'd even taken that much notice of the conversation !!

This pic doesn't do it justice though - it was taken quickly in my daughter's kitchen, surrounded by the Christmas goodies on the work top :o)


Now, the biggest fear I had was - I've not been on a bike for at least 10 years & although they say it comes back, I'm 10 plus years older. I might be well upholstered, but I'm pretty sure if I fall off, it's still going to hurt !! :o) I also worried about what the neighbours would think when they saw me - a fat lump wobbling down the road on a green bike !! :o)  However, with the wind & the rain, plus the few days of bitter cold we've had since Christmas, I've only managed to get out on it once & I have to say, it DOES come back to you :o) After the initial wobble of getting started, once I was along the prom, I was OK :o) I bombed along like I last rode yesterday & I bet my Mum was somewhere, cheering me on as I whizzed about :o)

I rode around for about 40 minutes but had to have a couple of rest stops because my thighs complained. A LOT. As did my BTM after a while, but the strangest feeling of all was in my knees. They felt as if I'd put them on backwards. That happens a lot, to be fair, but this time, it actually felt like my leg bones had disappeared & all I had left was a pair of jelly filled legs with knees facing the wrong way !! Most peculiar. 

Because the way home is 99% uphill, I walked the bike back & to be honest, it was probably the best thing to do because somehow, my knees managed to turn themselves back the right way round & my bones miraculously grew again :o) I'm sure if I'd have found a bench & sat down, I'd still be there today !! :o)

So, now I know I CAN still ride a bike, albeit somewhat in a wobbly way, but the neighbour thing I've yet to encounter :o)  Still, if it makes them laugh or smile, it can only be a good thing, right ? :o)

A word of warning though - if you see a large lady on a peppermint green bike heading towards you, MOVE !! Just in case !! :o)


Oh, the pic I've used at the top of my blog is a Day Lily, one of my favourite flowers. It's there to remind us that there IS summer after winter & happiness after sadness :o)

2 comments:

  1. Hahaha, I so loved reading this post. Straight from the heart :)
    Feeling very happy for you for all the good things Christmas brought to you...and whenever you feel weighed down by things happening around you, you should read this post of yours !!!

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  2. Hi there! I haven't commented in a very long time but just found your blog after a long hiatus. I'm so sorry to hear about your mother and hope that time will make the sadness a bit easier to deal with. I lost my mother in 2022 and my brother in 2021, along with my husband in the same year, so I know a bit about sadness and it's lasting effects, although I am doing better. I love reading your blog, you most definitely have a knack for writing. Take good care of yourself. ☺

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