Category: Relationships

Bad luck comes in threes

They say these things come in threes.

Well today they sure did!

I was diagnosed with Eustachian tube dysfunction by my GP today – that is causing my right ear to feel full and blocked and why I have a sore ear and neck and even the sore throat that I thought was the start of Covid earlier this week.

Being a mouth breather and wearing a mask is one of the things that cause it to become an issue apparently.

The solution is a new nightly regime of Nasonex, for up to three months.

Lucky me!

Anyway, number two was hearing that my Mum has Covid.

She’s doing OK, but as a ‘lonely only’ child I’m on call for any help she needs over the next week or so.

And number three? Officially a tie.

I received a call from a work colleague who is recovering from a brain aneurysm this afternoon.

He’s been told he’s lucky to be alive after having a seizure and collapsing at home, being put in an induced coma, suffering from constant headaches and apart from being very very tired he’s come out the other side relatively unscathed.

Then a call from my son, on his birthday, about his cat that needs emergency surgery for an abcess.

Distressing, and expensive.

What a day!

That’s it, I’m done.

Cheers to Covid.

Just like that it’s 2022!

Seriously, how fast did the last year fly by? Well it certainly seemed to for me.

Maybe that’s a middle-aged thing.

I’ve got a monster headache but it’s not from celebrating new year’s eve. The side effects of the Pfizer booster have hit and I’m feeling like an old car that has been left out in the paddock to rust.

In the words of the late great Leonard Cohen ‘I ache in the places where I used to play’ but it’s a small price to pay at the end of the day.

Right now I am so thankful and grateful for the silver linings that covid has brought for me.

I can hardly believe it’s been nearly two years since my milestone birthday celebration at the Cottesloe hotel!

Way back at the start of 2020 when covid was something I was only starting to hear about and didn’t think would impact my big birthday holiday.

In the past year I’ve gone from cruising to camping and can honestly say it’s been exactly what I needed to do.

Joining a car club and making new friends while heading off exploring amazing WA.

I’ve survived the heat, dust, dingoes, donkeys and flies, and days without running water and lived out of my car all with my best friend by my side.

Yes we’ve bickered and ranted and played the blame game, but ending a day by the side of a fire after watching the sun set has helped heal most wounds.

Covid is coming but we’re as prepared as we can be, both double dosed and boosted and trying to get used to accessorising with masks every time we leave home.

The bubble is set to burst at the start of February, but in the meantime another birthday is on the horizon and we’ve got one more car trip to complete.

Who’s with me?

#flashbackfriday Thirteen

I’ve just watched a movie on Disney Star, Thirteen.

I’ve seen it before, about ten years ago when my own daughter was in high school, and it scared the crap out of me how realistic and relatable it was.

Watching it made me flash back to the early 80s when I was thirteen years old and started pushing the boundaries and experimenting.

One particularly memorable night my ‘bestie’ and I snuck out of her house after her parents went to bed. She lived near a main road so we thought it’d be fun to stick our thumbs out and ‘pretend’ to hitch.

Two young girls, out alone at night … Wasn’t long before two guys pulled over and offered us a ride.

We thought it was a laugh, and lucky for us the guys didn’t take advantage of us in any way, and we were proud of ourselves for being so ‘naughty’.

I’ve been writing in a journal as long as I can remember, and it was reading my journal that Mum found out what we’d been up to and my friendship with my bestie was banned.

At the time I was angry at her for violating my privacy under the pretense of checking when my music lesson was scheduled. And of course devastated that my friendship with my bestie had to end.

What the movie shows is just how quickly things can go awry, and the games and lies teenagers play to manipulate and get their way.

Highly recommended viewing for anyone with pre-teens, even if only to get an insight into how peer pressure can potentially play out.

Two years after my naughty night out a friend of mine also hitched a ride and ended up being a victim of David and Catherine Birnie. For those not familiar with the story you can find out more online … Every Mother’s nightmare.

Who knows what other risks I may have taken if my friendship wasn’t banned and my boundary pushing and experimentation had been allowed to escalate.

Thankfully my own children didn’t end up pushing and experimenting too much and they’re still here and love to share their stories of what they got away with in their teens now they’re adults.

I can only imagine what the parents of my friend who wasn’t so lucky go through every time they think of her.

So in a way I guess I’m saying thanks Mum.

But I’ll still never forgive you for reading my journal.

Reflections on life without a Father

Today is Father’s Day in Australia.

Maybe you bought your dad a whole lot of stuff he likes but doesn’t really need, because that’s what the Hallmark version of the day is all about.

For me it is a day of reflection for what could have been.

You see, there is no Father in my life and according to my birth certificate there never has been.

Having reached the mid century milestone you could say I’ve learnt to come to terms with the lack of a father figure in my life, and my experiences with my own children and step-children and their fathers has been nothing but positive and for their sakes I am truly grateful.

If they are anything like me on Mother’s Day, knowing they are loved and valued and appreciated will count more than anything money can buy.

A simple text message, phonecall or making time to be with their Dad is all you really need to do. Anything else is a bonus.

As for me, I will be making an effort to acknowledge the two Dads in my world, just in case their kids forget.

And taking some time out for myself to reflect on what could have been.

As I read somewhere once, ‘Anyone can be a Father, it takes someone special to be a Dad.’

So cheers to all the Dads from me.

Carpentry cacophony

The Covid-19 ‘lockdown’ here in Western Australia is winding down, and I’m hopeful that some of the positives from the experience will remain.

The opportunity to get to know our neighbours has been just one of the silver linings of the experience for me, but not so for two of our immediate neighbours it would seem.

One is a retired carpenter who likes to tinker in his garage, building grandfather clocks from scratch.

Across the driveway the other neighbour, also retired, likes to entertain friends at home, and is obviously not happy with the noise that the carpentry emits.

A disagreement over the noise recently boiled over, with the neighbour not happy with the garage noise using a passive aggressive technique to counter it; playing the radio loudly on a portable stereo in the doorway of her home, directly facing the offending garage.

As you can imagine the combined noise is not pleasant, especially in the rear courtyard of our home where I normally enjoy pottering in the garden. Today the noise was enough to rouse Shadow from her Nanna nap to the front door to investigate.

We have had both neighbours at our doorstep complaining about the other, and to be honest they’re both starting to annoy the heck out of me.

But there is no way I’m picking a side, because I think they’re both being very selfish and childish. Who said with age comes wisdom?

Perhaps the situation will resolve itself once the social distance restrictions ease and the local men’s shed reopens?

But the noise is only part of the problem really, even if it stops they’re still ultimately going to need to learn to get along in my opinion.

Because life’s too short.

#nofilter I am not okay

I have a guilty secret that I feel the need to share …

I have medically diagnosed Generalised Anxiety Disorder that keeps me awake at night, literally.

Along with seeing a psychologist, I have recently started taking medication to help manage my chronic insomnia. Lack of sleep is like a ‘truth serum’ for me, which also happens to be one of my favourite songs. It’s by Smog if you’re interested, Google it 😁

Some days it’s like I have too much to say and not enough time, and if get within earshot I’ll tell you what I really think about EVERYTHING 😃

But I digress, until now I have felt too ashamed or scared or … something to share my ‘guilty’ secret.

Like my cat who is not well, some days all it want to do is find somewhere cosy and hide away. The linen cupboard is her favourite comfy place at the moment. But I’m off topic again …

Why is it so hard to reveal and discuss mental illness?

I broke my ankle a couple of years ago and it was clear I was not ok because of the dirty black smelly ‘moon boot’ I had to wear for nearly two months. The lack of sleep and reactive gut, two symptoms of anxiety, caused me to lose a lot of weight and I keep being told I look fantastic but I can, hand on heart, say I have never felt worse.

On days like today when I’ve had a bad sleep I know I look like crap but it’s not like I have a sling or a cast or a moon boot to explain why. And until now I’ve done my best to soldier on and put on my ‘happy face’ and act like everything is okay.

But I am not okay and it feels better to share that with you so thanks for taking the time to read this.

And if you are interested Google Generalised Anxiety Disorder 😉

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

As well as having a heavenly scent, the flowers on this plant in my garden also have a story to tell.

I chose and planted it when we returned from our first ever cruise on Dawn Princess from Fremantle to Sydney in March 2010. The cruise we boarded on the day of an infamous hail storm, when my now-husband proposed and we met our wonderful cruise buddies.

What is amazing about this plant is that every year around this time it puts on the most wonderful tricolour floral display; the flowers range in colour from purple to mauve to white, depending how old they are. Hence its nickname of Yesterday Today Tomorrow.

Yesterday I was a young mother with long hair and lean limbs, living and loving every moment of every day of my life with my ‘babies’. Today my hair is still long but my limbs are no longer lean, and my children are young adults living and loving every day in their own way. Tomorrow they will hopefully be blessed with children of their own and they will recall their yesterday with me and remember to make the most of their today.

Yesterday I never imagined the today I would be living, full of love and life and tomorrow plans, with so many wonderful friendships and journeys and memories.

Today I am OK and Tomorrow I will be too.

Sometimes all I need is to stop and admire these flowers to remind myself of that.

Sea Princess Positives

It’s been three weeks since we disembarked and now that post-cruise
depression is kicking in it feels timely to reflect on the positives of our
recent cruise experience.

A friendship started on board our Diamond Princess Christmas New Year cruise with the wonderful Joao Paulo, now Head Waiter in the Rigoletto Dining Room on Sea Princess, resulted in a truly special and memorable 50th Birthday Celebration for my man while we were on board.

Thanks Joao for the special service, cake and seafood pasta personally
prepared by Chef Carlos, along with the celebration serenade from
Edward, Marina and what felt like the full contingent of waiters on duty.

Adjoining balconies with our cruise buddies made for many memorable sailaways and also allowed for air-dried laundry on the odd occasion. Nothing beats the feeling of waking up each morning with a different view, as well as the opportunity to witness so many stunning seascapes, sunrises and sunsets.

The AU$59 per day drinks package is ridiculously good value considering it included bottled water and ‘specialty’ coffees as well as any other drinks less than $14. Likewise the twice daily Happy Hour – buy one drink less than AU$14 and get the other for AU$1.
Thanks to our extended journey we were able to take advantage of both during our 12 + 14 night itinerary.

Really enjoyed the entertaining and informative Art Auctions and look forward to receiving my winning prize in the mail sometime soon.
Likewise the opportunity to watch new release movies under the stars as well as be entertained by some very talented entertainers.

The Princess@Sea Intranet is a wonderful innovation; here’s hoping
Princess invest in face recognition technology for the on-board
photographers then I could truly have everything I need to know available to view on my Smartphone.

Zumba, line dancing and using the stairs every day in theory helped keep my cruise-belly-bulge under control; it’s just a pity that every single meal I enjoyed on board was so delicious and hard to refuse. Highlights for me included the delicious birthday cake, a bottomless Bircher muesli bowl and the wonderful Natalya remembering the coffee orders of our party of four.

Next on the horizon is another short Princess Cruise, two nights
celebrating a friends 50th birthday in early December.
Not exactly an opportunity to ‘Escape Completely’ and ‘Come Back New’ but I am still looking forward to the another cruise on a Princess vessel.

Thankyou Facebook for remembering my birthday

And reminding me to wish my friends and family best wishes on their special day.

Yesterday was my birthday, and given the popularity and reach of
Facebook it was also the anniversary of birth for many other people in the world.

Yet thanks to Facebook I received numerous birthday wishes and
messages, both online and in person, from old school friends and
acquaintances who I only touch base with on Social Media, to close friends and family I regularly catch up with in person.

Every single post on my page reminded me that, even if ever so briefly, I was in their thoughts, and that their thoughts of me were positive and happy.

Kind of a similar concept to the ‘Warm Fuzzies’ we were encouraged to write and leave in individual envelopes at school camp a long time ago in a Galaxy far away. Would you believe that I still have mine, in a box along with the letters and cards I have received from friends and lovers over the years.

Not that I ever look at them, just knowing they are there is enough to make me feel warm and fuzzy, as did reading through my birthday posts throughout my special day.

So thanks again everyone for the birthday wishes, and thankyou
Facebook for making them possible.

Have you been paying attention?

In the blink of an eye the end of another year is on the horizon, so before we get there it feels appropriate to reflect on 2015.

A year when same sex marriage was legalised in Ireland, and an archaic law permitting unwanted homosexual advances as a defense for murder was repealed here in Aus.

The World struck a deal on climate change, however a major corporation was caught ‘cheating’ on emission tests.

Saudi Air strikes, ISIS terrorists and refugees flooding into Europe hit the headlines, but there’s water on Mars and a new antibiotic that have been discovered so there’s still hope.

Hope for my friends seeking love that their special someone will sweep them off their feet to live happily ever after, hope that the curse of cancer can be conquered and recede from existence, and hope for another year filled with love and life.

Here’s cheers to the end of an amazing year in my World; hope you start the New Year full of love and life and inspiration, and I hope you’ll stay interested in following the stories of me.