Its been a while.....
The past year or so has been full changes and blogging has fallen by the wayside but in this quiet period at the end of the year I thought I'd pop in and say hello.
We are all fine.
One of the two major changes is that my parents now both live in a residential home. My mother broke her hip (2nd one) in September 2017 and after several weeks in hospital we realised that she would not cope at home. My father lived on his own until the spring of this year when after two hospital stays himself, he decided that he didn't want to live on his own and was able to move into the same home as mum. Both suffer from dementia and it isn't an easy situation but we are happy that they are being looked after and are able to be together.
The second change is that we are both no longer working. I stopped in April. It was proving a struggle to organise mum and dad from a distance of over 150 miles without needing time off. Work were very understanding, I'd been there 17 years, but in the end I felt pulled in too many directions and decided to "retire" earlier than I would have expected. Then towards the end of the year my husband's work situation changed and he also gave up work. It still feels strange both being at home, especially as the decisions were made very quickly but we are getting used to it. It is much easier being able to spend time visiting my parents without having to rush up and down the motorway at weekends and to visit our youngest son in Edinburgh but day to day life is very different.
That is my 2018 in a nutshell. There have been lots of good times as well. A bucket list holiday to Norway and Svalbard in the summer, trips to the coast when visiting mum and dad in Devon and being able to go out for walks together while the rest of the world works!
I am hoping that life might be settled for a while and that I find the time to blog and reconnect again.
Happy New Year.
xx
