Recently, the cable through which my house receives both TV and internet had a major fault. It lasted 4 days. …and I nearly lost my marbles. Part of the reason was that I needed to log onto the work system to download the latest files for school, but part of the reason was that I have come to rely on the television to provide an inane,…
The little things
…that annoy me (and drive me to drink).Warning – disorganised tiredness and general whining follows….. Somedays I think being a widow has taught me patience, but there are other days when I realise my fuse is very short and I have no time for pedants and things that make my life harder.I question why, instead of helping to simplify my…
Lesser Losses
When the children were small, I convinced Greg that we should get some pets so that the children could learn about life cycles early in life. They would experience the love and loss of a pet and understand that everything that lives must die.So Greg captured some pullets from themany of chooks at the farm back in 2006.These were hardy farm…
Four Years…
Four years since you left me.Suddenly.Violently.Bereft.Nobody could possibly begin to understand the soul connection we had. Anam Cara.We two were so closely linked….and yes, I know we are still connected.I have learnt to recognise the signs you send me.I know you are near.I know you miss nothing.I am lucky that intuition comes naturally to…
The Holidays are Over
Australian children have just come back from their 6-week summer holidays. So have their teachers…. The first year after Greg died, I dreaded the Christmas holidays. All those long weeks of just me and the kids. NO trips away (every holiday doubles in price during the holidays as we all know). No will to do more than walk the tracks to the…
Things that have Changed
I am sitting here, marvelling at how far I’ve come since March 1, 2010; I am a different person with the same heart. I can now look back and remember the sharp, stabbing grief of that day. The insanity. The weeks and months directly afterward where I alternated between shrieking pain and dense fog; I rocked and cried or I floated…
Hello 2014
A new year. Bringing hopes and dreams for a year brighter than the last. I remember the first new year after Greg died. I did not want it to happen. I hated the passage of time. I did not want to welcome a year in which Greg had never lived. Back in Ye Olden Days (ie – before we had children), we had a tradition of going up to a house near a…
I survived….
… Christmas, that is. I won’t lie to you, the week before Christmas, I was not feeling great. The weight of another Christmas without Greg weighed heavily on my mind. I missed him. I know I miss him every day, but last week I really missed him. I missed sitting on the couch and snuggling, watching the lights on the tree flicker. I…
Surviving Christmas
I am finding it hard to find any Christmas spirit this year. I have no idea if I have bought the children presents that they will enjoy… just a couple of small gifts to keep up the pretense of Santa. I have not sent a Christmas card in years … they remind me too much of all those funeral “thank you” cards that sat on my dining room table…
…..and breathe…..
Today was school break-up day. Party Day. Unofficial last day of the school year (except for tomorrow which is clean and scrub every single thing in the classroom day). I have been counting down to this day for the past month. My class are tired. I am exhausted (and for those non-teachers who scoff, don’t until you’ve done it. I used to…
The lost art of flirting
… well lost to me anyway. The last time I did “flirting” (without knowing that the flirtee was already very interested – ie Greg), I was in possession of a rather hot 22 year old body, flawless skin and a geeky naivete that was somehow attractive (who knew?). In other words, the most flirting I did was glancing in the direction of someone I…
Missing out
Last week one of the parents of a child I teach had a bit of a tantrum after school one day*. It seems her daughter missed out on having an iceblock with the rest of the class because she had been away the previous day. In her seething mother-rage, she shouted at me “It’s not FAIR that Cathy misses out on an iceblock. The rest of the class had…