Almost ready for the Big Event

The sewing is completed for the wedding, the boxes, bags and clothes hangers are all sorted and ready to load into the car. So what have I left to do?

!. Prepare a short Mother of the Bride speech of welcome and share a few of Elly’s escapades from her young life. She has not yet realised that my dementia is selective….

2, Decide on my party-piece for the evening. Now I wonder …

‘My Favourite Things’ is a harmless little ditty.

♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫

Now let me see if I remember the lyrics:-

Maalox and nose drops and needles for knitting,

Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,

Bundles of magazines tied up in string,

These are a few of my favourite things.

Cadillac’s and cataracts and hearing aids and glasses,

Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,

Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings,

We remember our favourite things.

When the pipes leak,
when the bones creak,
when the knees go bad,
I simply remember my favourite things,

And then I don't feel so bad.

Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions,

No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,

Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they bring,

These are a few of my favourite things.

Back pains, confused brains, and no fear of sinning',

Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinning',

And we won't mention our short shrunken frames,

Then we remember our favourite things.

When the joints ache,
when the hips break,
when the eyes grow dim,
then I remember the great life I've had,

And then I don't feel so bad.

These lyrics are courtesy of Julie Andrews she chose them for a performance at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall

I wonder where I might find a singing teacher…

The very thing the yellow Pages!

By Baby

Elly arrived at 16.25hrs on 6th May 1978 as Ipswich scored the winning goal in the F.A. Cup Final. She was the first, only and dearly loved child for my husband and myself.

From the moment she was born she was alert and hungry!

She is still alert and hungry…….

Elly quickly moved through Education:

• She joined Brownies

• Learned how to be a radio broadcaster

• Went on a tour of Queens University Library (aged 10)

• Joined a church choir

• Played Hockey, Badminton and Tennis

• Took part in residential Science Courses

• Tried canoeing, caving & rock climbing

• After A levels it was off to Paisley University in Scotland, to read Marketing with French

• Year three at the IUT in Troyes, France followed with new friends & experiences, but playing rugby was not what mother had in mind.

• Back to Paisley for the final year and graduation.

• 

Moving to Dublin opened many doors

• Working for a Major International Company

• Meeting her True Love

• New Hobbies, Friends and of course travel

This is what happens when you fall in love!

On Tuesday she heads off on a working trip that will take her right around the world passing through the date line for the first time.

Elly work well, enjoy the experience and travel safely, as always bring my love with you and I look forward to the tales of your travels when you return.

Elly enjoy your birthday, make the day special! I will always love you

My Poor Chickens!

Today is not a good day in ‘Lover’s Leap’. In fact it has not proved to be a good week at all. Last Friday my Elly returned from a working week in Israel. She phoned me from Dublin Airport as she waited for her baggage to come through. She always checks in like this a) to see if it is time to claim her inheritance or b) to let me know she has landed safely. We talked until I heard the baggage carousel start up and I let her go to concentrate on that. A little while later I had a text from her to say the case had not come home.

Saturday she was involved at Barcamp Dublin, another long and busy day. The suitcase was delivered on Sunday mid morning so all seemed well.

Monday and Tuesday were spent playing catch up at work while sorting her paperwork for the Visa, and vaccinations required for the next trip in May, which is to Vietnam with a stop off for two weeks on the way in Arizona. Taking the westward route she should come right round the world, passing the date line for the first time and cover 20,800 miles of flying.

Her visit to the Post Office was slow and tedious but the Passport and paperwork were eventually sent on their merry way to London for the Visa Stamp. She returned to her car to discover a parking ticket on the windshield.

Wednesday dawned and the effects of the Vaccinations hit home and she was suffering from a sore arm and rear end! At lunch time a young man decided to be friendly with my Sin-in-Law, far too friendly! He ‘rear ended him’; I think that is the term. The car is a mess I believe. ‘S-i-L’ thought he was un-damaged so did not take my advice and go to his doctor.

This morning ‘S-i-L’ had a very sore neck and Elly’s rear end was swollen, sore and not allowing her to sit down. They both headed to see the doctor and were given medication and told to take it easy today and not to try working.

While I spoke to Elly on the phone this morning she was pacing up and down, ‘S-i-L’ put out his hand to touch her as she passed – to give her a sign of comfort. His hand was about 2” from her bottom when she gave him a ‘Moses’ look, like the look Moses used to part the Red Sea. When Elly does that you BACK OFF!

Tonight they are a little better and the wedding is going ahead!

Get well soon, I love you both!

Travel

Now Grandad has the crazy idea of climbing up Everest. Little does he know how long an expedition like that will take, there are the months of preparation and then all that sitting around waiting for the clouds to clear…

Granny certainly needs the break so the longer it takes the more rest she will get.

Now I have an idea…

She and I might take a trip in the other direction well out of harms way.

We will go to Canada. It is a great big place with plenty of wide open spaces. There are plenty of Mountains and ‘Mounties’ to explore…

We might take that train journey from one coast to the other. When we have had enough of the scenery we might meet up with ‘The Raging Grannies’. They have branches all over the place. In fact we might learn some of their songs and start up our own branch in Ireland when we get back.

Understanding English

When Nancy was going to Florida, she had a bundle of Euro she needed to exchange, so she went to the currency exchange window at the local bank. The line was short. Just one guy in front of her... an Asian guy who was trying to exchange yen for dollars, and he was more than a little irritated!

He asked the teller, "Why it change??

Yestoday, I get 2 huna dolla fo yen.

Today, I get huna 80?? Why it change?"

The teller shrugged her shoulders and said, "Fluctuations."

The Asian guy says, "Fluc you white people, too!"

I wonder if Nancy managed to change her money?

My Labour of Love

And Second Place goes too……

I wonder if realising makes acceptance of the fact you are in second place any easier. I have known for several years that the eventuality of gradualness has brought me to this place. I am not complaining it is the natural order of events in life. Why am I thinking of it now, I hear you ask. Well the short answer is that my baby is away working in a place where her day is our night and while I am pottering about she should be catching up on her beauty sleep.

I am counting the hours until she arrives back in our time zone. I won’t be at the airport to meet her as that privilege belongs to the Love of her life. Perhaps we shall not see each other for several weeks but hearing her voice on the phone and knowing she has landed safely on this island will please me very much.

I am reminded of the first time Elly went away without her dad and me. It was a school trip to York. She was nine years old. We drove her to Larne to meet with her school pals and teachers for the ferry trip to Scotland. Once in Stranrear they boarded a coach for York. Children did not have mobile phones back then so we had to wait until her return on the Friday for any news of the week’s adventure. The young folk were discouraged from phoning home during the week in case it made them homesick.

We were back in Larne in good time to see the ferry sail into port. My husband’s footsteps and whistling speeded up as we joined the group of parents happily waiting to be reunited with the weary travellers.

Elly looked, happy, tired and as if she had not washed her face for a week! We were given a run down on the trip in the three minutes it took to walk to the car (she still does this and you have to listen well or you may never hear again half the details!).

As we drove home she was very quiet, so I turned round and discovered that she was quietly crying to herself. I asked if she was alright and she said “Yes” I asked if she was happy to be home and she sniffled “Yes!” Confused I asked why she was crying. Through her tears she told us, that as soon as she got into the car with us away from everyone else, she realised how much she missed us!

I have given my baby her wings; she uses them well and often. But that “Hi Mum!” when she returns from a trip puts a skip in my step and a song in my heart.

Roll on Saturday!