First off: Apologies for the lengthy silence. We've been caught up in birthdays, scan results, yoga teaching, my father's state of health, and domestic stuff. But now it's the Saturday of the long weekend, so I am taking the time to check in and catch up on our news.
Earlier this week, we learned that Val's CT (chest) and MUGA (heart) scans were both clear. That was wonderful to hear, as I had begun to think that our luck couldn't possibly hold out much longer. But it seems to be. Phew!
The previous week was consumed with multiple birthday celebrations for me, all of which were great fun:
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My colleague, Cora, put this on my office
door to mark the day. Most amusing! |
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Val, Mendel and me at the dinner
at our favourite Thai restaurant. |
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Randa (left) and Yvonne at the dinner at
Randa's house: delicious steaks, followed
by some of our wedding cake for
dessert! |
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Yvonne, Val and Susan at the dinner
at Susan's house; David and Belle were
also there - great fun! |
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Tulips from Susan - a
spring-time treat in February: Lovely! |
I highly recommend this approach to birthdays! My celebrations stretched out, literally, for an entire week and included greetings arriving in the mail, by email and phone, via text messages and Facebook. Being remembered by friends near and far felt good. Thank you all. Next week is our February birthday get-together at work, so it's not over yet for me!
In other news (as they say), Val was crazy busy with yoga teaching the week of my birthday. Not only were all the dinner celebrations on our calendar, but Val taught a yoga class at the studio almost every day. By week's end, we were both exhausted from it all! Rather like the old days, I guess. We must re-learn how to balance what we could be doing with what we can, actually, do and still be upright at week's end. Don't get me wrong; I'm not complaining - it's so good that Val feels able to do the teaching, and she so enjoys it; but a happy medium of activity outside the house and inside the house would be ideal.
I am now on the home stretch of my Wednesday night class - only three more evenings to go - and I have worked my way into enjoying the learning. While it is a TOTAL drag to head out for a 5:30pm class on a winter's evening, I cannot deny that I am learning some interesting things about teaching, and that is good. I feel fortunate to have landed in this career at this stage of my professional life; I can bring my interest in communication into the classroom, while at the same time engage my brain with the "how" of teaching. There is so much to learn: planning effective lessons, managing the classroom dynamics, figuring out special assignments for those students who need extra help, and so on. As I said to Janet S. when I was having (my birthday) lunch with her on Monday, I really enjoy this work; it is not just a job I am doing.
I had been hoping to spend this long weekend up at the cottage, but that is not to be. Val has a yoga studio commitment, Yvonne is sick, and our car is making a noise that precludes highway driving (we must find the time to get it into the garage for a check up!). So. It's a city long weekend for me. Maybe a movie or two? Oh, and the Olympics are on, and we have discovered the wonder of Apple TV! Using the CBC Sochi app on our iPhones, we can stream that coverage onto the TV thanks to that little black box. I don't begin to understand the technology, but I certainly enjoy what it does for us.
I will also light a fire under Val to prepare another blog post; I know she's had several ideas percolating. It's "just" a matter of her having the right combination of time and energy to translate those ideas into coherent words on a page. Stay tuned.
My father, Colin, has been back on the hospital ward for a few weeks, but he has been making steady progress and, it seems, he will be going home on Tuesday (skipping the rehab ward, as there are no beds available there). Plans are in the works to ensure home care services will support Mum morning and evening, and the Tweddle clan continue to be fantastically supportive: Doug will help Mum bring Dad home. Fingers crossed it will all work out.
