Time

It must be a sign of the times that for his birthday, Jack requested our help with decorating/DIY on his house.  So that's how we spent our time on last weekend. As is often the case with such projects, things look worse before they look better.  However, I'm pleased to say that there was a noticeable improvement by the time we left - it's good to make a positive difference!


His request brought home to me what a precious commodity time is - costs us nothing to give, but is priceless in terms of what it can achieve. Not that we need much reminding, living with the mesothelioma time bomb. When time is not on your side, there is a tendency (for me, at least) to look for ways to squeeze the most out of every single minute. This has resulted in a remarkable year since Steve was diagnosed, when making the most of life and our time together have been top of the agenda.  


However, embracing life full throttle can be tiring and occasionally rather overwhelming. I must remember that we need time to relax and keep on top of everyday things like housework and building maintenance.  There are also negative moments, when it feels like we're in a race against time, hurtling towards the moment when the news will not be good.  At such times, I desperately want to stop the clock and keep things just as they are now.


So where does that leave us?  Well, there's another very busy period ahead of us in October, but we need to balance this out with some chill out time in between. We've started the ball rolling on the maintenance front this morning, with a visit from the builder to look at things which need sorting out before winter sets in.  It's time to take the garden in hand and cut back the clematis and climbing hydrangea which have climbed up to and over the roof, using gutters and the down pipe for support, which is not good.  The birds will just have to find a new nesting place next spring.


In the meantime, there are more enjoyable things to occupy our time.  More of those shortly!