Happy Monday!
July has been a busy month and up until last week, I felt like I’d been running around in circles, to very little effect. Last week, something clicked, and I started to achieve things. This often happens to me, I spend hours and days and weeks trying to get something done and it doesn’t get done but it seems that my brain has been running in the background and suddenly, I have a solution or the motivation and it’s done. I was apologising to a colleague for taking a month and a half to work something out and she pointed out that a month and a half wasn’t that long for this particular task. Which was a bit of a revelation, I’ve been beating myself up this year about not being able to adjust to big changes, but it’s actually not been that long!
All my focus was on getting my work and home to do list down so that I could spend a big chunk of the weekend, getting on with the to do list on the plot. I largely succeeded in the getting things done at home and work but failed with the plot due to a Sunday migraine. The curse of adulthood is that it’s Monday today and the week and the work reset. I have to do it again this week!
The rest of the week/weekend was disturbingly dull, on Saturday, Ma and I had haircuts, I did my usual cleaning routine at Ma’s. She says it’s a good job we actually like each other as we navigate this mother/daughter/carer relationship, I’m in awe of how gracefully she’s handling these really big (and scary) life changes. I’m constantly changing bits of her flat so they work better for me, I don’t just randomly change things, but if it’s something I need to get into often and Ma doesn’t, I’m re-arranging it!
Last week, it was her linen cupboard, so everything was folded properly and I could find things, Ma’s very sore hands mean that she struggles with folding things (although it’s never been her forte – it’s much more my thing) and has adopted the ‘shove it in the cupboard method’ much to my horror and also I was just done with sheets and duvet covers falling on me every time I tried to get a new one out, so I refolded everything so it was easier to find everything without flying pillowcases! I also tidied up one of her kitchen cupboards to prevent an avalanche of plastic boxes falling on my head!
This week is my last week in the office before I have a week off and August brings some changes to my work and home routine. In order to facilitate Mum attending a fitness class (as recommended by the doctor) on Monday mornings, I’ll be swapping my weekend day with Ma from Saturday to Sunday and stay overnight with her. On Monday’s, I can check in with work early, take Mum to the class and then work from home on Monday afternoon/evening. I’m so grateful that I work for a company that will allow me to be flexible in my work as I support Mum and I hope that it helps her because I do feel rather as if we are floundering around in the dark with things that will help (in part because it’s taking so damn long to get anyone in the NHS to investigate what’s wrong!). That will also change my weeknight visit to Mum from Wednesday to Thursday so we’ll see how it goes, I think it’ll be nice to have my Saturdays back and have a slightly less rushed time with Mum on Sunday nights.
Work wise this is a busy week, it’s a reporting week, with new reporting rationale (I really do know how to pile the pressure on myself!) and I have some preparation for two new starters and the usual get everything set up so I can go away without everything burning down but I have dinner at Sue and Richard’s on Friday and then hopefully a week to rest a bit and work on the plot and catch my breath. I would really like this to be a week where Ma doesn’t need surgery or hurt herself as has happened the last two years, so please send us some good thoughts.
Have a good week!
Nic Dempsey 