It is 15 months since I last wrote on my blog. It is 15 months since we lost my Father to cancer. It has been a tough time for us all trying to learn to live without our Rock. One of the sayings that has turned out to be one of the largest lies ever told is that "It gets easier with time!" No, losing someone does not get easier with time. What we do is learn to live with it by developing our own coping strategies. It has been difficult to manage not only because of the loss of Dad, but watching our Mum having to carry on without her Husband and Best Friend. Thankfully we are a very close family and Mum has the support of not only her children and daughter and sons in law, but of her grandchildren too. Mum is our rudder, and her strength and her determination has been phenomenal, as she has not only had to carry herself, but she has been there to help us all to carry ourselves too. My Sister and Brother have been remarkable and are there at the drop of a hat should Mum need anything. I travel home every three to four weeks and spend a few days with my Mum. We have all had to get used to living a 'new' normal. Dad would be very proud of us all.
How has my life changed and moved on over this very tumultuous past 4 years?
This September the 2nd will mark the 2nd full year of being in the 'Safe Zone' of cancer. Having discussed being given the 'all clear' with my consultant, I was told that the all clear is a little way down the line as with me having had triple negative cancer there is a much higher chance of it coming back within the first 5 years after chemo than most other cancers. In another 3 years time, the percentage of the cancer returning drops dramatically and falls in along the lines of those who have had other cancers. At the mo, I am treading water quite nicely. I have since developed Type 2 Diabetes, and have been put on Victoza. This is a daily injection slows down my pancreas when it comes to digesting food. This means I stay fuller longer. My weight is dropping nicely (slowly but nicely) I am a stone lighter at the moment. I have to attend the liver clinic ever six months as all the meds from the treatment of the cancer have caused me to develop NAFLD (Non alcoholic fatty liver disease) despite all this my blood sugars are normal and as far as I am aware everything else is in fine fettle too.
Now, retirement... How have I coped with that? In all honesty at first it was Ok, but soon became a bit of a nightmare. I was 47 when I was diagnosed with cancer, 18 days off my 48th birthday. The ensuing battle raged and then at the age of 50 I felt that I had been thrown on the scrap heap, having to take early retirement. I guess unless you retire early through choice and because you can afford it, being made to retire because of ill health really does knock your belief in yourself. It makes you feel that you are no longer any use anymore to anyone. This has a knock on effect on all aspects of your life. You do feel like your life is merely an existence and that you are not making any valuable contribution to society. So how did I deal with this?
I took my interest in painting to another level and I learnt to work with clay, resin and silicone creating resin coated paintings, necklaces and earrings, and making Orgone Pyramids. I buried myself in books and took to writing quite a lot of poetry. I have continued with a book that I started writing but it is still a work in progress. All these were keeping me busy for a while, then I seemed to crash mentally and emotionally. I lost the will to paint, write and draw, I lost the will to read and felt as though I was drowning. It just seemed to hit me that this was all my life was now. No matter how 'tough' you think you are, or how well you have come through difficult times, when you spend so much time on your own throughout the day, your mind can start to 'harass' you. You think of all the 'What If's'. You worry about every little niggle and ache, you play the scenarios of how things could possibly go and how they could have gone, which creates havoc with your emotions. You begin to feel isolated, alone and depressed. You can start to cry at the drop of a hat.I would equate it to a form of post traumatic stress disorder, almost like a delayed reaction to everything negative that has occurred in your life. 
Not long after these feelings began to occur, I was lucky to meet a parent of one of my Son's good friends. Kathleen Monaghan introduced me to Lisa Elmas who runs a meditation group. I never in a million years thought that meditation would be something that would appeal to me. In my utter ignorance, I associated meditation with 'the pot smoking hippies' of the 60's, or with religious zealots who meditate through prayer. I never associated it with Elaine Murphy, former fun loving life and soul of parties, practical joker, loud, beer swilling, joke telling tomboy and school teacher. However, I went along and I have never looked back. Through meditation I learnt to relax. I learnt to let go of my fears and worries, my aches and pains, my sadness and my emotional hurt.
Besides the meditation group, I also started to attend a group that Lisa ran which was all about learning to develop your abilities as a Medium and reading Angel and Oracle cards. This may all sound 'pie in the sky' sort of stuff, but it opened up a whole new life for me. For my entire adult life I have always had a huge interest in the paranormal, now I had the chance to delve deeper into areas of interest that I had not had the opportunities to do before, and so it all began.Meditation has been a huge help since the loss of my Dad. I firmly believe that he kept his promise to me and that he is with me and all of us on a daily basis. Meditation had helped me keep my focus, has helped me deal with hurt and anger, has helped me to try to help my family through these tough times too.
Previously, at the age of 18, I had started to read the Tarot cards, this was an 'on/off' affair and as life took over my cards were resigned to the bedside cabinet drawer and were taken out whenever I felt I needed a little bit of advice, piecemeal really. However, I took steps to returning to Tarot and learning to read the tarot cards far more effectively, this time on a very deep and meaningful level. I have since gone on to not only read the cards and gain recognition as a tarot reader and completing a number of very interesting courses, but to also learn about the history of tarot along with understanding how Runic Symbols, Christian Hermeticism, Kabbalah, Astrological Symbols, Numerology and many other contributory factors have had influences on the tarot and its development over the centuries, I have developed a great affinity with the tarot and belong to a worldwide circle of tarot lovers and readers alike. Joining the American Tarot Association was the icing on the cake.
People, Places and Occasions!
There have been some good times had with people who have been here to support me during this last 4 years, but particularly the last 15 months. I do not want to go over too much old ground here, as you are all aware as to how I have managed or not as the case may be through the journey of my own cancer, but other than putting up a blog on the sad loss of my Father, I have taken the last 15 months as a break to get my own head around how life has changed so much. Albeit that I am a 52 year old woman, married with children of her own, It did not stop me from feeling like a very lost 'little girl' when Dad died. The strength of feelings of utter devastation that comes with such a loss is indescribable.
I gave you a very brief insight into the kindness of Ger, Pauline, Tamara and Noleen who had a star named after my Dad. We took a drive out to a peaceful place called Victor's Way in Roundwood. It is a secluded walk that takes you from one sculpture to the other. They are very interesting to say the least. The day was warm and sunny and we were talking and laughing as we headed to the start of the pathway that lead us round the walk. Before we started on the route the four girls and I sat on some benches under a tree where they presented me with the certificate naming Dad's star. It came with an informative map that helped me to pinpoint the actual star. It was such a lovely, thoughtful and kind act that it drew tears from me. I was so pleased to have this support. We continued on with our walk and marvelled, smiled, laughed and even scratched our heads at some of the sculptures. We returned to the start after a couple of hours and explored the small shop, where anything you buy is totally based on trust, you take your purchase and post your money into a secure box. I purchased 5 small wooded trinket boxes, one for each of us to remember our day at Victor's Way. We called to a Public House called the Woodpecker in Ashford on our way home and had a lovely lunch. It truly was a memorable afternoon.
Not long after this I was hugely and pleasantly surprised by a visit from two of my oldest school friends Andrea and Martine. Andrea now lives in the UK and Martine lives in South Africa. Martine flew from South Africa and Andrea from the UK. They had synchronised their flights and arrived in Dublin Airport within an hour of each other. It was fantastic to see them both. It was over 36 years since we last saw each other as children in Boksburg High School, Leeuwport St, Boksburg, Transvaal (now Guateng). It was absolutely unbelievable how we all got on so well together. We spent the few days they were here visiting as many places that we could. We spent a day going around Dublin on the open top tour bus. There was a trip to Wexford, then visits to St Patrick's Well here in Arklow, The Arklow Pyramid, Kilpatrick Beach and a chill out here in our home. It was relaxing, remarkable and wonderful. Sadly all three of us have lost our Fathers all from very similar, if not the same thing so both Andrea and Martine were utterly aware of what we were all going through and their support was so welcome. We keep in touch and, please God, we will get together again in the not too distant future. Friendships across the miles, and the strength of them enduring all these years is remarkable.
Gerry and I were very proud to attend our Son Jimmy's Graduation from BIFE, where he gained his QQI 5 in Carework. He has chosen a career route that will aid him further down the line to go on to further study and perhaps one day his nursing. This is still very much in it's infancy as at 19, Jim is enjoying his work as a carer of elderly people, and may in the future continue to take this further, however there is much he still would like to achieve. He is a very determined young man and has worked so utterly hard to get where he is today. Jim kept his promise to his Granddad and remained in his studies.His Granddad was definitely with him on his special day. He achieved what he aimed to achieve and it took him a huge amount of hard work. He is a dedicated young man who, right now, is in the exact place he wants to be. We could not be prouder. This was another occasion that had his Mum and Dad quite watery eyed.
There was the Dip in the Nip, something I took part in last year, June 2018, and raised money for cancer research in the memory of my Father. I took part again this year and managed to match the sum I raised last year. On both occasions the days were beautiful. The sea was rather cool but the fun, laughter and air of madness about it all got you through the Baltic like temperatures of the Irish Sea. This year one of my neighbours joined me and we met another lady there who had arrived on her own. The three of us banded together and had such a great day. We have arranged to meet up for next years event too. Something to look forward to that is for sure.
Gerry and I took time out and went up to Belfast for the weekend. It was part of our bucket list trip of visiting every county in Ireland. That had been put on the back burner for a while, while we dealt with all the blows that life was dealing us. We had a great time. The black cab tour around all the historical places of interest was amazing. We visited so many different places and the cab driver who drove us around was friendly, informative and full on knowledge on all the troubles that have happened in the North. We had a great time enjoying the company of people who are distantly related through marriage in the Rock Bar. It was welcoming and also an establishment that has such a deep history. The photographs on the wall there as proof of all the difficulties of the past. We have spent days visiting gardens and places of interest locally that we would not have thought of visiting before, there is definitely some truth in the saying that we do not appreciate what we have on our own doorstep. Days at the beach, walks through Ashford Gardens and attending the Ashford agricultural show. September 2018 marked the first full year of being, in what I believe to be, remission. In four weeks time I am keeping everything cross that this September will mark the 2nd year of being in the same state. If not, well I will just have to pick myself up, dust myself down and get my act together to deal with whatever comes my way. However, I do have a good feeling about this one.
Joe and I flew of to Krakow just before last Christmas. We had an amazing visit. Not only did we visit the Christmas Markets, but we did so much more. We visited Auschwitz and Belsen Bergen. Two WWII extermination camps where they wiped out many Jewish people, Polish Jewish people, Gypsies, Homosexuals, a Catholic Priest, Men, Women and Children indiscriminately. The sadness in these camps, along with the feeling of pure evil is palpable. Never ever should these atrocities be forgotten. Once we do that or once we try to deny that all this occurred, we are in very grave danger of Man's inhumanity to Man rearing its ugly head on a major scale. Joe and I also visited the salt mines, took a trip through the Jewish quarter on what can be described as an over sized golf buggy, walked through the Jewish Quarter and found ourselves a rather nice pub where the manager was very generous with his free samples of anything Polish to drink. We found some lovely steak restaurants and had Tomahawk steaks, Joe bough himself a beautiful winter coat and we found Planet Hollywood too. We went for a few days and will hopefully travel again. I know it bit Joe's travel bug desires.
This last year and a half, we have all carried each other through what has been the worst times of our lives. Now we are managing to slowly gather ourselves together and walk this new road, side by side. I am so thankful for all my family and friends who have and do walk this road with me. Who when I am feeling low, listen to me. Mum and I get to spend at least a week together once a month. We share our thoughts and on the odd occasion tears, but doing this we are guiding and helping each other get through some tough old days. We try to do something different on each visit. We have visited the theatre, ridden on the Great Orme tram, eaten out and had so many laughs. We enjoy good food and the occasional glass of wine... or ten... lol. We were so delighted to share a very special occasion with my Nephew Andrew, who against many hurdles, kept his own promise to his Granddad and achieved his BSc(hons) in Computer Software Development. He went up with such pride to receive his graduation. He wore a pair of his Granddad's cuff links on his suit shirt along with the pocket watch his Granddad left for him. Not only did Andrew look handsome, but he looked so truly proud, as proud as we all felt of him. Tears of absolute happiness filled all our eyes as we clapped for him as he went up for his degree. I can truly guarantee that my Dad was beaming down with pride as this remarkable young man went up to accept the acknowledgement and reward for all his hard work and achievements. Well done Andrew.
Fun on the Farm
Approximately a year after my own cancer diagnosis, one of my dearest friends, Julia, was herself diagnosed with cancer. She has had a very difficult battle over the last few years, yet she has kept her amazing cheeriness, dry sense of humour that has me laughing like there is no tomorrow. You may recall that you will have heard of Julia in an earlier blog of mine. Julia and our mutual bestie Hazel, travelled over from Wales to visit me in St. Vincent's hospital in 2017, when I had been admitted with Sepsis, Pneumonia and Neutropenia. Little did we know that Ju was next on the cancer 'hit list'. Julia has a small holding on which she has reared three sheep, two rams, six ducks three hens, five dogs and a cat called Gitto. With this beautiful menagerie, Julie barely gets to rest properly or get time away, so Hazel and I decided to become 24 hour farmers so that Julia and Nick could have a night away. Well let us just say for the record, that I had a moment of madness and mistook the rams for goats... yes I know, I have heard all the jokes and taken all the ribbing possible. You see, Hedley is a male sheep, that I had stored to memory as a ram minus horns, so I automatically assumed that the horned beasts in the field were massive goats.... I blame chemo brain... Our experience was in all honesty wonderful and would I do it again... yes, in a heartbeat. Thank you Ju for trusting us and letting us experience being farmers, even if it was just 24 hours.
Live the Dice Life
Recently my friend Tamara and I decided to have a bit of an adventure. We chose to allow a dice to dictate what we did for 24 hours. We rolled the die as to find out who was driving, rolled the die to find out where we were going, rolled the die to choose the activities we were going to do and rolled the die to choose the type of day it was going to be. It was quite an adventure. We headed off to Co. Louth and booked into the Flynn hotel in Termonfeckin. Our task was to shop in charity shops and explore antique shops. We visited every charity shop, and I was very lucky to find three tops and a jacket that I fell in love with. Yes it was my first time charity shopping and I have fallen in love with this past time. We had spare time to we visited the art gallery and Milltown Museum in Drogheda. We chilled that evening with an Indian meal and a couple of Gin and Tonics. We left the next morning and stopped at Ikea on the way home. Never make purchases in Ikea without getting measurements. Two of my three Ikea buys have now been turned into items for my art room as opposed to my hallway and kitchen.
Looking Back
As I have said many times that this last 15 months has been very hard going. My family and I were not the only family to have lost loved ones in this time. 7 days before my Dad died, Ben Mulpeter, a friend of mine, passed away too. He passed of exactly the same as my Father and joins both his Mother and Father who only passed away one and three years before him. The poor man was only in his 40's and far too young to have been taken from this world. Then Dad passed, following Dad, Gerry lost two friends, Scutcher and Sabber Delaney. Sadly they join their other brother Jos in heaven. The Doyle family lost their Sibling Michael, once again to cancer. Another is Billy Hughes, a friend of my Father's. These are only a few as I know there are more that should be added but right now the names escape me. With the exception of two people on this list, all the others have passed away from cancer. Why is this? Why is this disease so rife now? It is now a case that it would be very rare to meet anyone who has not been affected by this scourge. May all these people here along with my Dad Roy, Rest in Peace. May they watch over us all and help to guide their loved ones left behind here on earth.
None of us here will ever forget our loved ones, but we do have to look to the future, look at how life has lead us to where we are and where we intend to go with what we have. We have to learn to slough off negativity and to find the beauty, peace and love in our days. Granted this is not always very easy, but it is doable for the majority of the time. So look forward, learn from the past, and be the best possible version of yourself that you can be. There is far too much negativity, hate and mistrust in the world. Let us try to do our bit to get this world back onto an even keel of positivity, kindness, tolerance and caring. The world is missing a lot of this these days.
I will leave this with you all now and hope that each of you reading this will find some sort of help or guidance from it. I hope that whoever is reading this right now, this blog finds you and your families in good health and happy. Wishing you all 'just enough' in this life, enough love to carry you, enough strength to get you through hard times, enough money to keep the wolf from the door, enough of everything to make life an easier road. Until the next time People. xx
There have been some good times had with people who have been here to support me during this last 4 years, but particularly the last 15 months. I do not want to go over too much old ground here, as you are all aware as to how I have managed or not as the case may be through the journey of my own cancer, but other than putting up a blog on the sad loss of my Father, I have taken the last 15 months as a break to get my own head around how life has changed so much. Albeit that I am a 52 year old woman, married with children of her own, It did not stop me from feeling like a very lost 'little girl' when Dad died. The strength of feelings of utter devastation that comes with such a loss is indescribable.
I gave you a very brief insight into the kindness of Ger, Pauline, Tamara and Noleen who had a star named after my Dad. We took a drive out to a peaceful place called Victor's Way in Roundwood. It is a secluded walk that takes you from one sculpture to the other. They are very interesting to say the least. The day was warm and sunny and we were talking and laughing as we headed to the start of the pathway that lead us round the walk. Before we started on the route the four girls and I sat on some benches under a tree where they presented me with the certificate naming Dad's star. It came with an informative map that helped me to pinpoint the actual star. It was such a lovely, thoughtful and kind act that it drew tears from me. I was so pleased to have this support. We continued on with our walk and marvelled, smiled, laughed and even scratched our heads at some of the sculptures. We returned to the start after a couple of hours and explored the small shop, where anything you buy is totally based on trust, you take your purchase and post your money into a secure box. I purchased 5 small wooded trinket boxes, one for each of us to remember our day at Victor's Way. We called to a Public House called the Woodpecker in Ashford on our way home and had a lovely lunch. It truly was a memorable afternoon.
Not long after this I was hugely and pleasantly surprised by a visit from two of my oldest school friends Andrea and Martine. Andrea now lives in the UK and Martine lives in South Africa. Martine flew from South Africa and Andrea from the UK. They had synchronised their flights and arrived in Dublin Airport within an hour of each other. It was fantastic to see them both. It was over 36 years since we last saw each other as children in Boksburg High School, Leeuwport St, Boksburg, Transvaal (now Guateng). It was absolutely unbelievable how we all got on so well together. We spent the few days they were here visiting as many places that we could. We spent a day going around Dublin on the open top tour bus. There was a trip to Wexford, then visits to St Patrick's Well here in Arklow, The Arklow Pyramid, Kilpatrick Beach and a chill out here in our home. It was relaxing, remarkable and wonderful. Sadly all three of us have lost our Fathers all from very similar, if not the same thing so both Andrea and Martine were utterly aware of what we were all going through and their support was so welcome. We keep in touch and, please God, we will get together again in the not too distant future. Friendships across the miles, and the strength of them enduring all these years is remarkable.
Gerry and I were very proud to attend our Son Jimmy's Graduation from BIFE, where he gained his QQI 5 in Carework. He has chosen a career route that will aid him further down the line to go on to further study and perhaps one day his nursing. This is still very much in it's infancy as at 19, Jim is enjoying his work as a carer of elderly people, and may in the future continue to take this further, however there is much he still would like to achieve. He is a very determined young man and has worked so utterly hard to get where he is today. Jim kept his promise to his Granddad and remained in his studies.His Granddad was definitely with him on his special day. He achieved what he aimed to achieve and it took him a huge amount of hard work. He is a dedicated young man who, right now, is in the exact place he wants to be. We could not be prouder. This was another occasion that had his Mum and Dad quite watery eyed.
There was the Dip in the Nip, something I took part in last year, June 2018, and raised money for cancer research in the memory of my Father. I took part again this year and managed to match the sum I raised last year. On both occasions the days were beautiful. The sea was rather cool but the fun, laughter and air of madness about it all got you through the Baltic like temperatures of the Irish Sea. This year one of my neighbours joined me and we met another lady there who had arrived on her own. The three of us banded together and had such a great day. We have arranged to meet up for next years event too. Something to look forward to that is for sure.
Gerry and I took time out and went up to Belfast for the weekend. It was part of our bucket list trip of visiting every county in Ireland. That had been put on the back burner for a while, while we dealt with all the blows that life was dealing us. We had a great time. The black cab tour around all the historical places of interest was amazing. We visited so many different places and the cab driver who drove us around was friendly, informative and full on knowledge on all the troubles that have happened in the North. We had a great time enjoying the company of people who are distantly related through marriage in the Rock Bar. It was welcoming and also an establishment that has such a deep history. The photographs on the wall there as proof of all the difficulties of the past. We have spent days visiting gardens and places of interest locally that we would not have thought of visiting before, there is definitely some truth in the saying that we do not appreciate what we have on our own doorstep. Days at the beach, walks through Ashford Gardens and attending the Ashford agricultural show. September 2018 marked the first full year of being, in what I believe to be, remission. In four weeks time I am keeping everything cross that this September will mark the 2nd year of being in the same state. If not, well I will just have to pick myself up, dust myself down and get my act together to deal with whatever comes my way. However, I do have a good feeling about this one.
Joe and I flew of to Krakow just before last Christmas. We had an amazing visit. Not only did we visit the Christmas Markets, but we did so much more. We visited Auschwitz and Belsen Bergen. Two WWII extermination camps where they wiped out many Jewish people, Polish Jewish people, Gypsies, Homosexuals, a Catholic Priest, Men, Women and Children indiscriminately. The sadness in these camps, along with the feeling of pure evil is palpable. Never ever should these atrocities be forgotten. Once we do that or once we try to deny that all this occurred, we are in very grave danger of Man's inhumanity to Man rearing its ugly head on a major scale. Joe and I also visited the salt mines, took a trip through the Jewish quarter on what can be described as an over sized golf buggy, walked through the Jewish Quarter and found ourselves a rather nice pub where the manager was very generous with his free samples of anything Polish to drink. We found some lovely steak restaurants and had Tomahawk steaks, Joe bough himself a beautiful winter coat and we found Planet Hollywood too. We went for a few days and will hopefully travel again. I know it bit Joe's travel bug desires.
This last year and a half, we have all carried each other through what has been the worst times of our lives. Now we are managing to slowly gather ourselves together and walk this new road, side by side. I am so thankful for all my family and friends who have and do walk this road with me. Who when I am feeling low, listen to me. Mum and I get to spend at least a week together once a month. We share our thoughts and on the odd occasion tears, but doing this we are guiding and helping each other get through some tough old days. We try to do something different on each visit. We have visited the theatre, ridden on the Great Orme tram, eaten out and had so many laughs. We enjoy good food and the occasional glass of wine... or ten... lol. We were so delighted to share a very special occasion with my Nephew Andrew, who against many hurdles, kept his own promise to his Granddad and achieved his BSc(hons) in Computer Software Development. He went up with such pride to receive his graduation. He wore a pair of his Granddad's cuff links on his suit shirt along with the pocket watch his Granddad left for him. Not only did Andrew look handsome, but he looked so truly proud, as proud as we all felt of him. Tears of absolute happiness filled all our eyes as we clapped for him as he went up for his degree. I can truly guarantee that my Dad was beaming down with pride as this remarkable young man went up to accept the acknowledgement and reward for all his hard work and achievements. Well done Andrew.Fun on the Farm
Approximately a year after my own cancer diagnosis, one of my dearest friends, Julia, was herself diagnosed with cancer. She has had a very difficult battle over the last few years, yet she has kept her amazing cheeriness, dry sense of humour that has me laughing like there is no tomorrow. You may recall that you will have heard of Julia in an earlier blog of mine. Julia and our mutual bestie Hazel, travelled over from Wales to visit me in St. Vincent's hospital in 2017, when I had been admitted with Sepsis, Pneumonia and Neutropenia. Little did we know that Ju was next on the cancer 'hit list'. Julia has a small holding on which she has reared three sheep, two rams, six ducks three hens, five dogs and a cat called Gitto. With this beautiful menagerie, Julie barely gets to rest properly or get time away, so Hazel and I decided to become 24 hour farmers so that Julia and Nick could have a night away. Well let us just say for the record, that I had a moment of madness and mistook the rams for goats... yes I know, I have heard all the jokes and taken all the ribbing possible. You see, Hedley is a male sheep, that I had stored to memory as a ram minus horns, so I automatically assumed that the horned beasts in the field were massive goats.... I blame chemo brain... Our experience was in all honesty wonderful and would I do it again... yes, in a heartbeat. Thank you Ju for trusting us and letting us experience being farmers, even if it was just 24 hours.
Live the Dice Life
Recently my friend Tamara and I decided to have a bit of an adventure. We chose to allow a dice to dictate what we did for 24 hours. We rolled the die as to find out who was driving, rolled the die to find out where we were going, rolled the die to choose the activities we were going to do and rolled the die to choose the type of day it was going to be. It was quite an adventure. We headed off to Co. Louth and booked into the Flynn hotel in Termonfeckin. Our task was to shop in charity shops and explore antique shops. We visited every charity shop, and I was very lucky to find three tops and a jacket that I fell in love with. Yes it was my first time charity shopping and I have fallen in love with this past time. We had spare time to we visited the art gallery and Milltown Museum in Drogheda. We chilled that evening with an Indian meal and a couple of Gin and Tonics. We left the next morning and stopped at Ikea on the way home. Never make purchases in Ikea without getting measurements. Two of my three Ikea buys have now been turned into items for my art room as opposed to my hallway and kitchen.
Looking Back
As I have said many times that this last 15 months has been very hard going. My family and I were not the only family to have lost loved ones in this time. 7 days before my Dad died, Ben Mulpeter, a friend of mine, passed away too. He passed of exactly the same as my Father and joins both his Mother and Father who only passed away one and three years before him. The poor man was only in his 40's and far too young to have been taken from this world. Then Dad passed, following Dad, Gerry lost two friends, Scutcher and Sabber Delaney. Sadly they join their other brother Jos in heaven. The Doyle family lost their Sibling Michael, once again to cancer. Another is Billy Hughes, a friend of my Father's. These are only a few as I know there are more that should be added but right now the names escape me. With the exception of two people on this list, all the others have passed away from cancer. Why is this? Why is this disease so rife now? It is now a case that it would be very rare to meet anyone who has not been affected by this scourge. May all these people here along with my Dad Roy, Rest in Peace. May they watch over us all and help to guide their loved ones left behind here on earth.
None of us here will ever forget our loved ones, but we do have to look to the future, look at how life has lead us to where we are and where we intend to go with what we have. We have to learn to slough off negativity and to find the beauty, peace and love in our days. Granted this is not always very easy, but it is doable for the majority of the time. So look forward, learn from the past, and be the best possible version of yourself that you can be. There is far too much negativity, hate and mistrust in the world. Let us try to do our bit to get this world back onto an even keel of positivity, kindness, tolerance and caring. The world is missing a lot of this these days.
I will leave this with you all now and hope that each of you reading this will find some sort of help or guidance from it. I hope that whoever is reading this right now, this blog finds you and your families in good health and happy. Wishing you all 'just enough' in this life, enough love to carry you, enough strength to get you through hard times, enough money to keep the wolf from the door, enough of everything to make life an easier road. Until the next time People. xx
