Can’t believe where the time is going. Has it really been that long since my last post? Still, there’s been a whole lot happening. Work is still playing games. I’ve been certified ok to return to ‘suitable duties’ for over a month now, but they’re delaying on getting me any. They’re finally organising it at a vacant placement I told them about! So, meanwhile, they’re having fun sending me letters and having the injury management coordinator call me about how my leave entitlements are about to run out. Like I could do anything about it! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I won’t have too many weeks without pay, because they’re certainly working hard to make sure I get at least some.
On the home front, there’s more happening. A close family member is seriously unwell, in and out of hospital, so I’m trying to spend as much time as I can with her. It’s hard to watch someone you love in pain, especially when you know that it’s not going to be a quick recovery, but an uphill fight to recover at all. I’m now another one of those “one in however many” whose life has been touched by cancer.
Makes you appreciate every minute you have with the people you love, I can tell you. It got me thinking – especially after we had the recent shock deaths of Steve Irwin and Peter Brock – that you really can’t take anyone being there tomorrow for granted. Life suddenly looks so much more uncertain, and there’s very little that can make you feel more powerless than watching someone else struggle with their health…
I guess the only lesson you can take from it is that the people you love aren’t permanent fixtures, but temporary gifts that life has loaned to you. Take advantage of them being there for every minute that they are, because you don’t know when the loan will be called back. Say everything you want them to know, and don’t let silly ideas of what they might think, or how they might react, stop you from being honest from the heart.
Life IS way too short.
Crystal
