45 years of marriage.......not quite

Yesterday, 2nd December, would have been my parents 45th wedding anniversary, a sapphire anniversary. Sadly, mum didn't make it. I was worried for my dad. He got through her birthday OK, just treating the day as another normal day, but this one was a little different. He came over for evening meal and spent a couple of hours with us. We didn't do much, but I didn't want him to be on his own all day.

I suspect that Christmas will be more difficult for us. Mum usually organised quite a bit of the celebrations but she won't be here. That will be something we will have to get used to. Dad can't think about Christmas. He doesn't know whether to get a tree or get himself organised to buy presents. I am not going to push him to do anything, but will have some standby pressies, just in case.

How do you start to live again after nearly 45 years of marriage?

A week off

I have been a bit of a workaholic this year. I have a holiday entitlement of up to 30 days and next year I can have the same, 'cos I am entitled to take up to 5 days over. But even with those 5 days taken next year, I still have not taken enough time off so this week I took the rest of my entitlement to ensure that I didn't lose any days.

I haven't done a lot.
Monday - Nicki's Birthday. Got up early to see her open her presents. Unfortunately, our present had not arrived. (See below) Then, Christmas Shopping. Got most of the presents and did it within my budget so far. I feel great about that but I still need to get Christmas Cards organised, wrapping presents, ensuring that I have the Christmas Dinner organised, and ordered!!!!
Tuesday - didn't do a lot at all. Rested for most of the morning to be honest.
Wednesday - Dug a bit on the allotment. Lunchtime - went to Costco with my father. Nice to do something together, just the two of us, even if it was forcing ourselves around a crowded store.
Thursday - Visited a friend from work who is on longterm sick. Came home and cleaned the kitchen and the oven. Hated doing it but pleased with the results.
Friday - today - going to see a friend who has just had a new baby.
OK - it sounds like I have been busy - but I have, intentionally, not rushed. This has been a good week for me. Still a little fragile around the edges though.

Tomorrow - back to the grind of a normal weekend. Nicki will need taking to her keyboard lessons early tomorrow. She is doing so well at it. Next year she will be taking her Grade 6 Keyboard. As a birthday present, we bought her an 88 key keyboard to enable her to play more piano pieces. Unfortunately, the warehouse didn't get it to us in time, hence my comments above. The company didn't immediately apologise for their mess up and it took about 3 emails before they even ventured to offer us an apology. Still waiting for the keyboard to arrive, but I am assured that it has been despatched from the warehouse. We wait, in anticipation.