Danda's Birthday Tea - Families
A quick little blog today to mark a very special occasion. It was Danda's birthday this week. If you don't know Danda is my father-in-law, Danda is what the grandchildren call him and it has stuck with all the grown ups now too.
On the surface it wasn't a landmark birthday, no special numbers on the front of the birthday cards, no bunting, nobody jumping out to say "Surprise"! But to all of us, this was a landmark - a special day.
Some of you will know this already, especially those of you sitting by my desk on Wednesday 18 May. The previous day Danda had an operation, a serious one, but everything was expected to go smoothly, no complications were foreseen, a couple of days in hospital and he would be back home. When we all went to bed on Tuesday night everything was more or less to plan. Mid morning Wednesday was another story and two days in a row we were called to hospital because things had got very serious indeed, as serious as they can get. What resulted was a hospital stay of not several days but several weeks, where we sat a bedside vigil with an unconscious Danda, we did our best to stay strong and support each other but it was hard.
Our story has a happy ending Danda came home and has made a really amazing recovery that we are all very grateful for, when he went back to visit ITU they called him a "little miracle".
So this Tuesday was a landmark for us and it was nice for us to get together for an afternoon tea and a chat and a catch up knowing that those times are behind us.
You never know when things are going to take a turn, make time for those you are close to whoever they are, it's very easy for us to think we are too busy for things, but I've been realising lately that you can always fit a bit more in! I don't get my thrills from bungee jumping and extreme sports, I get them from achieving small personal goals and from being with my family. Someone said to me recently "why do you go on so many holidays? I'd much rather have a new settee or a carpet...", don't get me wrong I'd really like both of those things, I'm 44 and I've never bought a carpet and in my life with my husband (21 years) we've never bought a settee, but recently I took Lauren away for a few days, we had such a brilliant time, I was able to give her 100% of my time. I know you can't do that all the time, it wouldn't be healthy, but within 5 minutes of us being at home I was telling her to "wait a minute" " I just need to do this first" "please will you get out from under my feet", awful, but the reality of home life when you have to work and get all your jobs done too. So that's why holidays and time with my family are so important, a new carpet would make me happy, but not as happy as time with Lauren and Tony. Poor Tony has been working from dusk til dawn at the moment and it makes me look forward to Christmas so we can relax a little and put the pressures of everyday behind us for a couple of days at least and of course my parents will be visiting from their home in Northern Spain, so that will be an added bonus as will a short visit from my brother and his children. There will be at least 2 nights over the festive period where 8 or 9 people will be staying overnight in this little bungalow - but nothings impossible!
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| A quintessential English high tea, a lovely salad, sausage rolls, crisps and scrummy little white bread sandwiches of poached salmon, chicken, ham and corned beef |
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| A delicous coconut cake with candles for Danda, chocolate rolls, iced buns and mince pies yum! |
Our story has a happy ending Danda came home and has made a really amazing recovery that we are all very grateful for, when he went back to visit ITU they called him a "little miracle".
So this Tuesday was a landmark for us and it was nice for us to get together for an afternoon tea and a chat and a catch up knowing that those times are behind us.
You never know when things are going to take a turn, make time for those you are close to whoever they are, it's very easy for us to think we are too busy for things, but I've been realising lately that you can always fit a bit more in! I don't get my thrills from bungee jumping and extreme sports, I get them from achieving small personal goals and from being with my family. Someone said to me recently "why do you go on so many holidays? I'd much rather have a new settee or a carpet...", don't get me wrong I'd really like both of those things, I'm 44 and I've never bought a carpet and in my life with my husband (21 years) we've never bought a settee, but recently I took Lauren away for a few days, we had such a brilliant time, I was able to give her 100% of my time. I know you can't do that all the time, it wouldn't be healthy, but within 5 minutes of us being at home I was telling her to "wait a minute" " I just need to do this first" "please will you get out from under my feet", awful, but the reality of home life when you have to work and get all your jobs done too. So that's why holidays and time with my family are so important, a new carpet would make me happy, but not as happy as time with Lauren and Tony. Poor Tony has been working from dusk til dawn at the moment and it makes me look forward to Christmas so we can relax a little and put the pressures of everyday behind us for a couple of days at least and of course my parents will be visiting from their home in Northern Spain, so that will be an added bonus as will a short visit from my brother and his children. There will be at least 2 nights over the festive period where 8 or 9 people will be staying overnight in this little bungalow - but nothings impossible!
Well said Maria and very true.xxx
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