Recap

Where to start? So much seems to have gone on.

Firstly my mother. She’s doing ok, and on a good day, when she’s not tired, I can understand about 90% of what she’s saying.

When she’s tired, she slurs her words more and is almost unintelligible.

She is up and down with her moods, which is pretty understandable, and in all honesty I don’t think I’d be coping as well as she is.

In another development to an already shit year, my boss died from bowel cancer. It was all pretty sudden, he was diagnosed and died within a three week period. They tried to operate, although it was already deemed terminal, to try and give him some extra time and a better quality of life, However he just wasn’t strong enough to get through the operation. An earlier diagnosis may have given him a better chance.

The suddenness of all this left a huge hole in my life. I’d worked with the guy for 13 years, and he was the father figure in my life, so his loss hit me quite hard on both a personal and work level.

It’s looking like they’re not going to replace him at work, which has meant me taking on a lot of the stuff he used to deal with. I’m always up for a fresh challenge, but this does feel pretty weird still. The extra cash doesn’t seem anywhere near enough either, but that’s not really an issue of importance. I still find myself thinking “wait till Geoff hears about that”, and then I realise that he’s not here anymore.

He was a great man, selfless and always helpful, and I truly hope I can follow in his footsteps with even half the grace and dignity he had. He was a great role model for how to conduct yourself, both professionally and personally, and I learnt  a lot from him.

In better news, the two eldest kids have done really well at school this year, both getting great reports and proving themselves to be very able. Our youngest starts nursery, part time, in September. Where the time has gone I just don’t know.

That’s the main news recapped, the day to day stuff can take over from now….