I have started a blog post at least three times since the most recent one a few weeks ago. No sooner do I get one almost ready to publish than my thoughts and life take an unexpected turn. I honestly can’t remember a time when things were moving so fast for so long. We are nearly settled into a nearly predictable routine and then suddenly we’re not.

I keep recalling Pema Chödrön’s words from my last post “You are the sky, everything else is just weather”. As life goes, last week felt like a storm. My long awaited MRI was postponed for two more weeks, the Home Care representative came to see me about what assistance we might need now and in future and strongly suggested he thought I should wear a ‘fall monitor’ since Don travels or is sometimes away for hours. I fell twice last year, but didn’t injure myself either time. My credit card was compromised for the second time in a month and I had to cancel it. Don had his usual three weekly chemo treatment and while he was at hospital our WiFi modem died. It  turned out to be a faulty one and was replaced but took us a full 24 hours to get things back on track, during which time we got almost nothing else done. And somehow I managed to chip a tooth!! Bad weather? It was even raining most of the week.

This week things are back on track with a positive vibe. So quick, write while things are stable! I read somewhere during the week one must just keep moving through the stormy times and eventually you will see the sun again.

Allison is in Singapore meeting her new work colleagues and securing an apartment and will return to Sydney for a few days to sell her car and hand back the keys to her apartment and return to Singapore to begin work on July 1.

Don is feeling better, but tired, after his 5th treatment. Early results are promising but he has 30 treatments to go. We are cautiously optimistic.

I continue to try and adjust to my body’s changes and observe and learn as I go, how to be patient and try new ways to do things. It’s no good being cranky and frustrated and missing all the good things in life that happen every day…like sunrises and sunsets from our balcony. I have changed clothing styles and sizes, stopped wearing most makeup, bought new cutlery that I can use more easily, found items to serve as ‘tools’ in the kitchen, particularly when trying to open things like ring top cans! Typing emails and blogs take a lot longer than they used to, but I’m not ready to give them up yet.

It is autumn and the wind has been blowing leaves around. A few days ago a couple of blocks into my walk a palm sized Plane Tree (Sycamore) leaf blew onto the front of my shoulder and stuck there like it wanted to tell me something. I reached up and gently held it and said “Hi there”. It made me smile, not least at myself talking to a leaf, but troubles gone for the moment. I felt light as that leaf being gently carried away in the breeze.