Has it really been a year?

Has it? It has! It’s really been a whole year since my last blog post.
I was all set to take this blog down until I received a message from a stranger who told me that it was a shame that I have stopped writing. I haven’t stopped writing as such, I just haven’t blogged because (as John Lennon points out in his song “Beautiful Boy”), life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. 

Here we are at the end of October already. 2018 is almost over and life has moved on and evolved for everyone. Of course it would be boring if life stayed the same wouldn’t it? If we didn’t have experiences and people passing through this journey we all take, then we would become stagnant. Life is about learning, growing and continuing on to become the best version of ourselves that we can be. I keep on growing. I keep stumbling and making mistakes. I keep crying, lamenting, getting angry with myself and then I pick myself up, dust myself off and put one foot in front of the other again. Because it’s what we do isn’t it? We don’t achieve anything worthwhile whilst waiting for it to be handed to us or blaming someone else when things don’t go as planned. Well, I don’t anyway. I don’t see the point of shifting responsibility for my own life and happiness onto someone else. It’s not the way to grow.

So, what has been happening in my life? When I stop to think about it, there is heaps. Even though there are days that I feel as if I am just marking time, I can see where changes have occurred.
Since my last post I have continued my studies into dementia by completing a number of short courses and I am now a full-time university student studying for a “Bachelor of Dementia Care”. I feel strongly that people with dementia and Alzheimer’s require all the assistance that we can provide. It’s not their fault that their brains are slowly dying and it is as confusing and difficult for them as it is for those of us who are watching on. Whilst I am a full-time student, I also continue to work in the aged care facility I was in when I wrote my last blog post 12 months ago. Changes have occurred there as well with new owners but I have had to learn (after tears and tantrums) that I either ‘go with the flow’ or just go. I chose to relax and go with the flow but the process of getting to that point was painful.

What has also been painful is watching The Teen. This year she has had the role of School Captain whilst completing schooling. There has been anxiety aplenty over the past months. She is now in her last two weeks of schooling ever and graduates in a fortnight’s time with her formal night the following night. We have spent the past months shopping for a dress, having it altered, shopping for accessories, booking makeup and planning the day down to the minutest detail. She has a lovely boyfriend and they have just celebrated going out together for a year. He has his suit, organised a car for the event and his wonderful mother is doing the Teen’s hair. This has been a difficult time for me as I face the fact that my baby has grown up and I’m about to send her out into the world. After the formal, she and her friends are going to the Gold Coast to celebrate for a week with all other school leavers from around the state. A rite of passage that she will no doubt love whilst her mother sits at home chewing her fingernails. Where have the years gone?

In other news, I am to be a grandmother once more. Back in my post Touched by an Angel I shared the story of the loss of a grandchild. I’m so pleased to share that my son and his wife are expecting a healthy baby boy in February. It has been a long road to get to this point and they were blessed that their first round of IVF worked. I will let out the breath I am holding when I can count his fingers and toes and kiss his tiny cheek.

I mentioned that I still write, and although I have been a little lax in this as well, my journalling is still my sanity saver. One day my family will find a pile of books in the top of my walk-in robe that chronicles their mad mother’s ramblings about life, work, children and countless other little things. I have also paid to publish my still-unwritten book. You remember the book I began years ago? It’s been through track changes and re-writes and I’m now going in a completely different direction and writing a fictional account of a family dealing with dementia. I have my character outlines, some plot lines and the opening paragraph done.

So there you have it, life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. I’d planned to do so many other things, such as completing my aromatherapy courses (still working on one) and starting my own business doing massage and aromatherapy. Yet, here I am working and studying and trying to fit life in around everything.
This blog post has been a little personal but I will try to be a little more inspirational in the future. I will also endeavour to be a little more regular 🙂
Blessings to you all.