A bit of exercise does you good, they say – although John would want to know who ‘they’ are, of course – and, do you know what? I find ’tis true. Well, it has been in my case today, anyway.
I have no idea why, but I felt blue this morning. I had been bed-hopping overnight to avoid John’s very restless sleep. When he finally found which room I was in and brought me an early morning cup of tea, he said, “You did the right thing. I had a terrible night.”
Poor John – it’s so annoying to be so restless and continually up half the night, nipping to the loo. It’s no wonder he’s exhausted most of the time. But then I realised that that’s what made me feel blue. The helplessness and inability to solve this particular problem. I’ve made all sorts of suggestions, but nothing seems to help, so we are both at a loss as to know how to remedy the situation. Perhaps something will turn up…….
Anyway, I whiled away most of the early morning reading my book in bed and playing e-games on my phone. John also went back to bed, and had a bit of a lie-in to catch up on his lost sleep. I eventually got up at ten and got ready to go to yoga for eleven o’clock. Not sure how, but the time sped by and I ended up being late for class, so had to creep in because everyone else had started.
I was glad I went though. It wasn’t my usual class – although one with which I am very familiar, having attended it frequently in the past – and it was so delightful to see everyone and to be able to take their greetings and best wishes back to John. Several enquired after him and told me to send him their love and hopes for him to feel better.
The class suited me down to the ground and I came away feeling much better. However, for some unknown reason, I still felt a bit stressed and found myself worrying about all sorts of things – sons, husbands and mothers mostly. Yes, yes, I know – there’s no need to worry……
Once home, I had a bite to eat before I was due to set off for badminton this afternoon. My phone pinged. It was Harriet. Could I babysit tonight, please? She and Paul wanted to go out for a bite to eat to ease their stress. Well, of course I could babysit. Nothing better than seeing the grandchildren. John thought he might come, too. Even better.
I enjoyed the badminton this afternoon. Whacking a shuttlecock as hard as you can doesn’t half relieve your feelings. There were only four of us and normally we swap partners, but today, we kept the same partners for all the games, which meant that me and my partner (who used play league badminton) won all the games. That cheered me up!
Home again, to find John painting. He’d done the second coat on the side gate and was now onto the blacking of the wood that surrounds the garage doors. I left him to finish off while I popped up to the shops to grab something for Freddie’s tea. When John came in, he looked absolutely jiggered. “Do you still want to come with me to babysit?” I wondered. No. He didn’t – he was way too tired to be thinking of getting ready to go out and try and entertain a nearly-six-year-old. “I think I might have a bath,” he said. Good idea. Rest those weary limbs.
I toddled over to Kenilworth and was absolutely delighted to see the family. It’s a while since I saw them….ooooh, might the whole of a fortnight…. and I had had withdrawal symptoms. Freddie dashed in from school and was equally delighted to see me, too. Warms your heart doesn’t it?
Naturally, we didn’t sit about. Freddie and I were busy. We were out and about in the garden, bug-hunting. “It’s bit too late at night, Freddie, to find the bugs.” I said, when we found that there was a dearth of bugs. “They’ll have gone to bed already.” He didn’t mind. He still prepared his bug-house and we set it, in the hope that it would attract something overnight.
When it was almost bed-time, we did sit at the table and play a guessing game. “I’ll draw something, Freddie, see if you can guess what it is,” I suggested, as I drew a fox. I was about a third of the way through the drawing when he guessed. “Your turn,” I said, and he drew a bird. Soon after, he looked to be concentrating very hard, “Just a minute, Grandma,” he said, as he spelled out a word and then triumphantly showed me his picture. Ahhh…… now that’s a picture!
The day had started blue, but ended purple. Such richness encountered along the way. So many blessings to be thankful for. The spikiness and irritation all gone, smoothed away by the activities of the day and the company of loved ones. Marvellous.
Meanwhile, COVID continues rampant. 40,701 people tested positive for the virus today. What the…..? I mean, this is beyond a joke, isn’t it? 122 people died in the community; and 33 in hospitals in the previous 48 hours. Over 40 children were admitted to hospital in the last week.
Mitigation cannot be the vaccine alone, surely? We must be encouraging everyone to do those things we were doing before, in my opinion – keeping our distance, wearing masks, washing our hands and ventilating our indoor spaces – to keep infections and deaths down. Or am I in Cloud Cuckoo Land and no-one cares about the affects of the virus any more? I think I’m beginning to rock in the corner over here now…….
Take care everyone. God bless.