Poppy has headed of for her first proper flight from the nest, with a one week long school trip to Holland, the house feels strange without her interacting with Holly, so Holly and I chum around doing things together which is nice. I guess that when kids leave home to go to college it must be a massive change in the atmosphere of a household and in the parents perspective on life.
Needless to say Poppy had nothing in her wardrobe that fitted her any more, and managed to persuade weak parents to fund her shopping for the trip, thankfully she is too old now for me to buy her clothes (I used to use my trips to the USA to buy very good value clothes at Oshkosh etc in the factory outlets north of our US plants, so unusually I bought a lot of their clothes when they were young) so poor Lee had to brave the shops with her. Poppy has good taste, which many young people, and myself, do not have, so we do not yet have the fights over the too revealing or impractical wardrobe selection.
Holly has her first horse "event" on Thursday, a kind of end of term show, so both Lee and I are keen to go along, as this is her real passion of the moment, and we know she will be delighted to see us there. I think all parents want to ensure they give good encouragement to both children so the horse show should, we hope, balance the justified praise for Poppy in the singing department.
On Monday I went to see my friend and leader in Gore, Andy Warrender, for lunch which was the first time we had spoken face to face since the start of my latest treatment. Andy, like all the Gore leadership, has been very supportive of my situation, personally covered my back when I had to drop out so quickly, and since has been keen to ensure that I took the time to get better properly before coming back to work. We had a nice chat about the things I might do when I come back, what had been going on since I had been "out of the loop" and other general chat about our own perspectives on life, he has just been to the north pole and has plans for other adventures with his family. Without realising it hours had passed, and I set off down the road my head buzzing with ideas (which was my normal state prior to treatment to be fair). By the time I got home I was exhausted, Lee took one look at me and headed me off to the couch where I slept for two hours. It is very strange to be mentally near 100% but not to have the stamina to be able to concentrate or keep going in body. I guess I just need to be patient and realistic, keep up the exercise, and slowly my stamina will grow.
Today I did turn on my work computer for the first time in two months, and I will make some tentative contacts with folks over the next few weeks on the telephone, just to gradually open up my radar to what has happened over the last months, and get a feel for what is going on. Its good to feel that there are opportunities and challenges out there waiting for my stamina, and my immune system, to catch up.
So a good weekend and few days, lots of interesting ideas for the future, but a good reminder of how I need to build up my stamina a good deal more before managing a 9 to 5, never mind the "full on" demands of the type of role I have done in the past. However a bit of chat with colleagues on the wireless headset for an hour or two, a bit of background research, and getting my radar off "pause" and on to "gentle sweep" all seems possible over the next month.
I even had my first shave in 12 weeks due to small white fuzzy stubble starting to grow again !
Cheers
Gerry
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3 comments:
Oh for goodness sake! I used to log onto this blog and think I'd strayed onto the Newsnight website as the Mullah wittered on about achieving global peace and which room in the house he was going to keep his Nobel prize. Now, it's like a combination of Mrs Dale's diary and the witterings of Martha Stewart. Recipes for soup and slush puppies I can get from Nigella Lawson. And, let's face it, she's a damn site easier on the eye than a bald Mullah. Come on Mullah, let's have some tales of naked bungy jumping. Or perhaps Billy Bob could contribute a few articles on gator wrestling and the like. You're going to have to liven it up if you want to keep your loyal readers.
Hi Gerry, during the last days somhow I felt you closer to work again, I did not know why. After I read through this recent blog, now I know why. It seems to me that we have you back soon!! Again with lots of challenging ideas. See you soon!
cheers Anton
Hi Kenny,
Perhaps I have turned into an ugly version of the domestic goddesses you mention kenney but that beats being back in hospital with an infection any day of the week! In reality life is very quiet, even boring a lot of the time, as I slog through the weeks it takes for my immune system to get back into gear and I try to get some sensible amount of stamina back. I do feel the need for a crusade coming on when I work out what it is I want to crusade about I will let you know and try to entertain you a bit more (I mean what else I am I here for after all!). I may even work up the energy for a trip to Dumfries in the near future.
Cheers
Gerry
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