Life on Lifes Terms!

18 02 2014

So, it’s been a while.

I was just reading back to the posts when we first moved into Gladys and although it was all new and we were venturing into the somewhat unknown, it seems from where I am now that the pace of life was much slower for me then. I wrote back then in June 2012

” Whats happened to time? Its gone all bendy and out of shape, in a really good way though. Gone are the rigid confines of time that  seemed time tabled into conventional living. I used to have an inner feeling that time in each day was running out. I was bound by time, up against the clock all day really so that I could have some time in the evening to relax with Alistair before Mr Sandman called me for my 9.30 ish appointment with him!”

Im kind of missing that slower paced life, but, again life is weaving a pretty complicated tapestry right now for me and its a little tiring to say the least.

So as this is about our life out in the open (literally) I will start with the lovely Gladys! Im happy to report that she still welcomes us every minute of the day with her energy and has loyally stayed well through all the fierce storms, wind and driving rain. We are truly thankful and have pledged that as soon as the spring comes we will reward her with a beautiful spring clean inside and out and a bit of a service and some TLC.  Outside is a bit of a mud disaster and the chores are a bit tricky but I’ve managed to not slip over and have kept us topped up with running water and not overflowing with waste throughout the winter and I feel that we at last  nearly have our second winter under our belt.

Archie the not so small puppy  – 27kg and growing fast-,  has settled into life in Gladys with us really well.  He was spoilt recently though. We rested our weary bones and exchanged thick mud and damp weather for brilliant sunshine and had 2 glorious restful weeks in South India. A magical place, where Yoga, Ayurveda and joy of life prevails. Meanwhile Archie languished at Aunty Gillians and had acres of room to play in, played all day and for as long as he could with his black Lab cousin Jake and shat on Uncle Pauls carpet just for the fun of it!!!.  But back in Gladys, think white dog with Glastonbury quantities of mud and our relatively small  one room living accommodation and you may conjure up an accurate picture of winter in Gladys with Archie!

So, no problem with living is a bus, the magic is still working!

 Hard not to mention the Cancer curve ball really. Alistair is OK and we hope that the cancer is behaving itself and being contained by our alternative treatment plan, wholesome nutrition and him being able to retire and take his time to heal. Archie has brought a whole new dimension to Alistair’s life and although its hard to put into words, that little big dog is bringing something unexplainable to Alistair. He has a nagging ongoing back pain, which of course scares the shit out of us, but our rational or denial whichever way you choose to look at it is that he had this long before he caught the cancer curve ball. But, its maybe time to have it checked anyway. He wrote in his last post that he felt alone with this, and ultimately he is, nobody unless you have the same life threatening  diagnoses can feel and understand what he goes through on a daily basis. A bad back ceases to be just a bad back, a twinge that would have previously gone unnoticed heralds its arrival with gusto. So its not that he doesn’t feel loved, or taken care of or supported by all of our brilliant family. Its that he is having to manage being dealt a really tough hand of cards and in truth only he can play that hand and it must be done his way.

So, I have become sole bread winner, doer of Mans Jobs ( ah, I remember when I wrote that in Gladys we have designated girls jobs and boy jobs- those were the days)! and of course, by choice,  I am halfway through a full on diploma in Naturopathic Nutrition. If I had known the amount of effort and work and energy this was going to take I may have thought differently, but I doubt it, alternative treatments (well actually it is forbidden to say treatment – I can say that i can help you optimise your health) are high on our priority list for good health and using food to heal seems tome to make a great deal of sense. SO I am wading my way through assignment after assignment and now have my head down for 3 full on weeks of early morning study to be ready for the first exam of the semester in March (Yikes).

But I think at the moment the thread of the tapestry that is the most difficult to manage is the pattern being woven for my parents. To mix my metaphors, the cards my poor old mum and dad have been dealt are really shit and the worst thing of all is that they have been dealt those hands by members of their family not the universe per se. I can tell you, I have learned an awful lot about the mental health act over recent weeks and I have also learned how once someone gets shoved into a system against their will it is so tough to get that system to work for them and to get them out! So between me and my sister Kate and Pippin whenever she can we keep Mum and Dads relationship alive and help them to spend precious time together, time that my old dad doesn’t have on his side.

Drawing on my limited knowledge of Naturopathic Functional Medicine, I ask each of you from this point on, always always always see the person first and don’t define them by their illness.

Two phrases spring to mind as I fight for my parents rights:

A quote from Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” and The Serenity Prayer:

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference”.

Peace and Love x

 


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