Well, it's Sunday morning and I've had quite a week. I thought I'd share a bit of it here.
Sunday evening last week, I went to a public workshop close to where I live looking at the issue of refugees in the local community. Somewhat inspired by SOE (SOL, RFD), I ventured out and heard about what was being done to assist families being moved here under the UK Governments UNHCR resettlement scheme of families from refugee camps surrounding Syria and another local charity mercy missions to Greece to help the migrants that have come across in boats but have not been able to leave Greece due to border controls. I left with some ideas as how to help.
However I felt my phone vibrate (as it was on silent) as I was out and no sooner had I got home, I was out again and off to the care home where my 98 year old grandmother lived. She'd taken a sharp turn for the worst. When I got there many of the family were gathered at her bedside. I took one look and knew it wasn't good. Mum had the same hunch and stayed with her mother and my dad after we left. There was nothing I could do. I had to go to work in the morning. I said my goodbyes to Nan and left. Rather than disturb me in the night, mum rang tearfully in the morning to tell me the (what I thought was going to be inevitable) news. Mum stayed until the end. Alzheimer's is a horrible disease but fortunately a woman who was never at peace in life found peace within herself and looking back, her mind had closed down and her body had been following suit over the last few months in a way of cycles of sleeping and not eating for a time and then bouncing back up and eating, sitting up and communicating with the carers. We were rather hoping it was just a reaction to Winter and Nan, with all her constitution, would pull through. Although for each cycle of being in bed for days, then sitting up out of bed, she declined a little further. In the end the final decline was only a few hours and I'm thankful she was at peace.
Determined to do Nan proud, I carried on with my plans to attend a job interview 36 hours later. I got the job in a housing office. Nan worked in a housing office when she was just out of school because they were clearing the slums in Liverpool and the council were building new homes for people on the edge of the city. She would have wanted me to go to the interview so I did it for her (as well as for me).
I realised in a kind of SOE way that I need to be around for my parents, particularly my mother. I joked she'd live to 100 (well, half joked as both her parents, her grandmother and some aunts all lived into their 90's). She looks after herself and I realised I need to do the same as I'm not getting any younger, and need to be there for her in the next 20-30 years. I'm not unwell. I just need to listen to what Bono says "This is no time not to be alive".
Later in the week, a man that my other half freelances for was rushed into A&E/ER (by his wife because it was quicker than waiting for an ambulance) with a 'dead leg'. They couldn't save his leg, but they did save his life, it was that serious. That was more of a shock than my Nan's passing (I saw that coming but not as soon as it happened) - none of us saw that coming. Now everyone is rallying around this guy in hospital and he's organising his business from his hospital bed. He is determined to get to the end of the year and be back as normal as he can with a prosthetic leg.
This morning I woke up having had a bad dream. I had to go online to check it wasn't true. I dreamt that Bono had in fact died and that I was watching the TV news that reported that he was a good man throughout his life and if it wasn't for the religious divide and the loss of his mother at an early age, he would have made a great priest and spiritual leader and he wanted a simple ceremony of remembrance. I am, understandably relieved that the dream was not reality, but I have NO IDEA why I had it.
It's now Sunday again and I hope next week won't be so eventful.