Rest

It was a cool and slightly chilly day today, accompanied by ongoing drizzle.  Much to my disappointment and annoyance, I woke up with an absolutely massive headache today.  As I whined earlier this week, I haven’t had these for a long time, so 2 in a week?  Ugh!  I had to cancel lunch plans with a friend and former colleague, who I haven’t seen since before the pandemic.  My parish priest came this morning to give me the sacrament of the anointing of the sick, for which I was very happy.  After my anointing, I went back to bed and slept for a few hours and my headache was much reduced when my sister-friend dropped off a care package around 2:30 this afternoon.  I’ll eat some of it tomorrow; it’s got some of my favourite Serbian dishes.  Today’s lilacs come all the way from New York, where the photographer went in search of them for me.  Many thanks J & H!  I love these, which just make me think of spring.  I also saw that the tree across the street is in full bloom!  It wasn’t ready when I was out a couple of days ago, which just shows how quickly they burst into flower!  Gotta love that.

We don’t know how it happened, but somehow my niece and I didn’t get a chance to talk all week.  We made up for that today, thankfully.  I suddenly realized how much I missed talking to her when she came to the phone.  She’s such a delight, and she’s got some fascinating thoughts.  I was very happy to hear her. Yesterday my dad didn’t hand over the phone as he was in a bit of shock from my news (I understand that) but when I tried calling her cell, I got no answer.  It’s all ok.  I feel a little guilty that I can’t be at her confirmation as I’ll be doing my so travel is strongly discouraged during that time.  I’ll work on travelling afterwards.  My niece asked about journaling, and when is a a good time to do it.  I told her how I write at the same time (approximately) every evening and I do a reread before I post to avoid major errors (although that doesn’t always work as planned)  and that’s it.  If I wrote in a paper diary pr on slips of paper for a gratitude jar, for instance, it would take less time, as the entries would be shorter, and she has much more control over who reads her entries.  She’s debating on what’s the best approach and will decide soon.  I hope that she opts to journal, because it helps clarify your thinking and if you’re consistent (which I’d never been until this last year) you get a better sense of yourself and your wants and needs.

As an aside, after I spoke to my dad yesterday, I had some clarity that relates to my “homework” from the groups session.  It was to detail my greatest fear and its consequences.  My revelation was that I worry more about my dad and my aunt in order to divert my attention from my worry about my own challenges. Yes, I know, it’s not exactly earth shattering news, but to me it’s eye-opening.  I’m working on facing up to it and dealing with the implications.  At present, though, I’m going to have to deal with a small dog trying to push my iPad off my lap, so… Good night.