Back to it….

After a lovely weekend, we were back to it….. back to the regular hospital trips to Birmingham. This morning it was the Eye Hospital on the Dudley Road. A regular check-up and an appointment that John is always keen to keep. Always in the hope that they will find a magic cure for the soreness in his eyes.

There is, of course, no magic cure, but the dreaded instruction to drop ciclosporin into John’s eyes was not forthcoming today. “Your vision is excellent and you can leave off the ciclosporin for now as you are doing so well,” said Matt, the consultant’s understudy. “But you must use the other things prescribed for you regularly.” We all nodded our understanding, but, lest we forget, I made a note of it. Frequently we get home and can’t remember what has been said. Or, at least, one of us can – or thinks we can – and then we argue about it until the next visit…..

We were ages at the hospital. By the time we’d finished seeing the medics, our stomachs thought our throats had been cut. We were parched and peckish. “I’m going for a coffee,” declared John. So we went to the little in-house café and bought revolting tea and coffee, dry roast chicken and chips, and sloppy cauliflower cheese ‘n beans. It wasn’t great but it filled a gap.

“Do you mind if we call in to Solihull on the way back?” I asked John, when we’d finished. He didn’t mind, so I was happy. I just wanted to nip into Waitrose to buy some frozen pains aux raisins – a throwback treat from our time of living in France. They’d been out of stock when I’d ordered on line, so I thought I’d see in person whether there were any in the shop freezers. We were in luck. So I bagged a couple of bags. Heh-heh.

We didn’t get home until nearly four o’clock. We’d been out all day and felt weary. “A nice cuppa will set us up,” I suggested. Well, it set me up, but John not so much. In fact, he slept through the video call I had with William and Michael. Normally, William’s piping little voice is like a magnet and John zones in as soon as he hears it. Not today. Far too tired.

John was awake, however, when I Zoom-called Andrew. And we had a really lovely twenty minutes or so chatting to him. So enjoyable. Fingers crossed we see him in the flesh soon.

Later on this evening, I popped over to Paul and Harriet’s to drop in the bracelets that I’d made for Lily at the weekend, and collect some bedding I’d left at their house. So I saw all three sons today – except Paul was sleep-walking. He’d been fast asleep on the sofa when Harriet roused him to help with bringing the bedding down. Bless him – he could hardly keep his eyes open.

It was lovely to see them all though – Freddie ran out in his bare feet, ready for the big bear hug – but we didn’t, because Lily’s not feeling well and there’s the threat of COVID in the school air….. oh, Lordy, I do hope not. Despite feeling a bit out of sorts, Lily also came down in her bare feet to say ‘hello’ at the front door to receive her gifts – and I am so pleased that she liked them. I hope she feels the love and protection intended.

Fewer COVID infections today – which is a pleasant surprise – but there are way, way too many with 30,824. There were 61 deaths in the community and, since Friday, 43 in hospitals. 1,076 people were admitted to hospital with COVID today.

But, I’m thinking of today’s ‘Golden Moments’. A theme we explored in our yoga retreat. How many of them are there in a day? Hundreds, I reckon. Here’s a few of mine…… sharing a joke with ol’ man; holding his hand; seeing the boys; seeing the grandchildren; sharing the excitement of the remote cake-making in Sutton; sharing the excitement of Freddie being proud to be in Year One; watching Lily’s beautiful face fill with gratitude for her bracelets; chatting to Harriet, the dear girl; and so much more………. Yes, counting my blessings, counting my blessings….

Take care everyone. Stay as safe as you can. Keep on with all the COVID precautions so that you can enjoy many more days, weeks, months and years to come with your loved ones. God bless.