I visited with a friend today. I was following up on the wellbeing of another friend, when he stumped me with a question. He asked how I was processing my recent health scare and then he asked Who are you? I started to explain that I was a wife, mother, career etc etc when he stopped me. “No” he said, “I didn’t ask you what you did, I asked Who are you?” Hmmm well that stumped me…
 
Who am I? Is it a question of values? or priorities? or beliefs?
 
What does that mean? I’m going to have to ponder that for a while…
 
I’ll get back to you…Have a great day!

Thanks Jo from A broad’s thoughts from home for my first meme. Here are 7 random things about me.

1. According to my husband and aunt (just this evening, in fact) I am a noisy typist, which only serves to irritate them that I type quicker than they do.
2. I play the piano. I’m currently having withdrawals as we are renting a little house while our house is being built, and my gorgeous piano is in storage.
3. I am a diary freak. I do not function without a diary. I love the planning and also the satisfaction that comes from knowing that I can concentrate on other things and a quick check of my diary will ensure that I don’t miss anything.
4. I have very eclectic music taste. I have a country station in the car and cd’s ranging from Il Divo to Guy Sebastion (Australia’s first Idol winner)
5. My desk is a mess. It’s always a mess. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times I clean it up, it’s always messy.
6. I don’t didn’t exercise until my recent health scare and now have given myself a stern talking to and joined an exercise class.
7. I’ve always really battled with my weight until I discovered that I have coeliac disease and now, although still an issue, it’s more manageable.

In turn I am tagging Robyn who might have a few random things to share from her fabulous trip and Wolfie whose blog I’m enjoying reading

This week’s prompt from Sunday Scribblings is ‘Left & Right’.
 
Left and right are partly tight

a complex brain on show.

Is it for art and gifted thought

or logic and ordered rows?
 
Or is it a fact,

that the colour is black,

or that white really means,

there’s no colour sheen?
 
Up is quite different,

than down could be,

the impact may depend

if it involves money.
 
Doors can be open,

or shut as you please.

A case can be both,

swinging amidst with ease.
 
See here for more ‘Left and Right’ posts.

Today was spent with our little one at the large children’s hospital in our capital city. It’s a scary experience to watch your child, who you spend you life protecting, slowly lose consciousness as the anaesthetist gives her the anaesthetic.
 
The reason for our visit was to ascertain if our little one has coeliac disease or another mal-absorptive problem. She is tiny for her age and doesn’t seem to be putting on enough weight for the expectation of our doctors.
 
It all went well. The surgeon was out speaking to me only 12 minutes after I had left her asleep. She was grizzly and unhappy in the recovery room but much better after 15 mins. She had a drink and some fruit and we were able to go home. She slept all the way home on the hours and a half drive.
 
She was really tired and now went to bed with barely a sound.
 
We will get result in a week so will wait ’til then.

The theme from Writers Island is ‘Unforgettable’. See here for more ‘Unforgettable’ writing.
 
It was a simple plan requiring a few more details to set up the parameters of the evening, then all that was needed was to sit back and enjoy the night.
 
Hugh cut a stylish silhouette as he stood half hidden by the shadow of the tallest building in the city. Not a particularly tall man he relied on his chiseled appearance and suave manner to impress all but the most savvy of women. Today had started like any other day as he prepared his plan.
 
It was several weeks ago when on an night on the town, Hugh approached a very classy looking woman lounging provocatively at the bar . Following a brief but eye-flashing conversation the pair left the hotel and disappeared into the darkness.
 
The next morning came far too quickly for a very muddled headed Hugh as he found himself in a strange hotel room. This was not part of the plan! He crawled to his feet to find her gone. What exactly happened? How did he miss the past few hours? What had gone wrong? His carefully practiced plan was perfect, infallible even. It worked every time…a fabulously looking woman, a few drinks, good conversation, a prepared hotel room and the piece de resistance - a couple of tiny little pills slipped into her drink. This served not to create an criminal act but left very glamorous women a little disheveled and wondering what happened to their evening.
 
It was perfect really, as inevitably once Hugh suggested they move their party to his hotel room, he always received a polite but shattering negative response. It was so unfair, he was a good catch, reasonably well off, smart dresser, well educated but with one small flaw…his face was horribly disfigured. The result of a boyish experiment gone wrong, and hardly bettered by numerous plastic surgery attempts, Hugh was daily haunted by his face.
 
Women were polite but never interested. It was heartbreaking, when night after night as he was offering more he always received the same answer.
 
Tonight was going to be different. He had spent countless hours finding that woman. He’d spent even more planning this night down to the minutest detail. A phone call here, lists and jottings there and here it was. the plan was complete and ready to enact.
 
He walked into the foyer and there she was. He almost lost his nerve…
 
She was dressed in black with scarlet shoes and the tiniest of handbags. He stopped behind a marble pillar and his breath was sounding like staccato.
 
He continued on, his soft Italian shoes almost soundless on the marble. He walked along the busy bar as the noise around him seemed to dissolve as he touched her shoulder.
 
She turned and the light changed in her eyes. His throat was dry as he said…
 
“I just want to know what happened”. There it was out…a question to a woman without trying to hide his face. Her laughter was almost girlish as she replied “I’ve been sitting here every night waiting for you to turn up. I got locked out of the hotel room and they wouldn’t let me in. You were asleep and didn’t hear the phone.” the words tumbled out and over. “I just kept hoping that you would come back”
 
He couldn’t help but smile as her eyes got wet and the noise of the bar seemed to take over.
 
He only had one problem…..did he need to come clean to her about his previous evenings…?

1. My husband - for putting work on hold to look after me and our little one
2. My daughter - for being the delight of our lives and whose breathing I’m listening to via the baby monitor
3. My aunt - for being a darling friend and coming to stay and help
4. My O friend - for making me laugh and sharing ‘busy head’ stories
5. Friends - who share this life journey with us
6. More friends - who have prayed and supported us
7. Even more friends and others - who have prayed even though we don’t know you
8. Our spoodle dog who is always happy to see us
9. Getting the chance to do a little bit of work - even if slowly
10. Having a new day to explore
11. Our rental property - even if cold and cramped (Our house was started this week, Yeah!)
12. Enjoying the wonderful smells of our Australian spring - the lavender and roses smell amazing
13. Listening to the traffic go past and realising that life goes on around us

It’s two and a half weeks since my surgery (and our little one’s trip to hospital) and this is the first time that I have had a quiet spot to think, and therefore write.
 
It’s been a tough few weeks and we have been so blessed by the prayer and support from all over the world. Your perspective on life gets challenged when your life is threatened. Although the past month or so, has been difficult, an opportunity seems to present itself to re-evaluate life as I know it. I tend to be very self-evaluating generally so this gives me a lot to think about.
 
As a mother of a toddler, it was horrific to think that I may not have even had a few years with her, but now as I have been given a reprieve for the moment, I want to prioritise what’s really important.
 
As some of you will know already, we have received the news that the melanoma was confined to the one lymph node. This is fabulous news. This actually places me in too good a position to require radiotherapy. Woohoo! I will be going to the oncologist soon anyway as a bit of an information gathering exercise just to gain as much information as possible about prevention.
 
I’m still going back to the surgeon every 5 or 6 days to have needle drainage of two pockets of fluid that collects under my arm. This isn’t painful as I don’t have much feeling under my arm (there are some good sides to the surgery) I will be glad when this stops however. How long it continues is relative. It is different for each person.
 
I’m pretty sore but very glad for the position that I am in now.