Rainbows

It was a week of contrasts, and summed up by a photograph

or two

A niece died, unexpectedly.  She had cancer, but seemed stable.  She went into hospital to have her medications balanced and died that night.  Her lungs filled with fluid suddenly and her body shut down.  She was in her early 40s.


And the good news?  Well, there has been rain ... a lot of it.  Which usually is bad news, and wasn't the nicest of weather to live through, but at least the irony of a hosepipe ban after the wettest April on record has left me smiling.  And there was a rainbow over my garden.


Mum went for some tests, and is going for more.  Not bad news, so that's good news really.


My new car arrived and looks lovely ... should I post a picture?  Next time perhaps.  The rainbow is beauty enough ...


Meanwhile knitting continues (and sanity remains), perhaps good things are on the horizon ...  so the triteness of living through rain  to sunshine heralded by a rainbow is cringe-worthy, but I'm not too cool to hope.

11 months later

..

So much work, so much heartache but rewards too.

Mum is happy .. more happy and more secure than she has been for many years. She is warm, cosy, well fed, and no longer distressed. Her memory has stabilised and honestly, she's so much better.

I've had a wonderful year ... I've been to festivals, I've been camping, I've had time with my daughter, my son, and the kids. DH has stabilised, his granddaughter is charming and things are ticking over.

Of course the mean sister is still out there - her latest complaint revolves around the amount of money spent at Christmas ... she is jealous of the fact that other "families" get more. Mum has always gifted the person ... not the family. Who the hell says "this family has 1 child so each gets £60" "this family has 3 children so each gets £20" .. she is a mean hard woman. No happier for having

(a) got a wonderful husband

(b) got enough money

(c) is healthy ...

Her perception is, and always has been, coloured by what others may have that is more than she has.

I do feel for St Peter if she should die before her full 70 years are up .. his afterlife won't be worth living.

Anyway, she will moan and make discord, and it, in turn, will make others unhappy ... but it is almost Christmas, my mother is content ... and so (for now) am I.