I'm at home in Eagleton. Back where I can see the Big Skies. It's been a very strange week. In fact there is a surrealness about it even now (which is mid evening on Saturday.)
Each day I have spent time at the hospital where two things strike one immediately: the wonderful staff and the camaraderie amongst the patients of each treatment area. I am TRC (Treatment Room C) and already I have met people and formed a bond. We all start at different dates and our time together will, at most, be for six weeks for a maximum of an hour each weekday. We know that the common bond of cancer that brings us together will probably only do so for a very short while. So, after the tentative and unsure meeting at one's first treatment, we greet each other as if we'd been friends for years.
On the evening of Tuesday (my first day in Glasgow this time) I went to play croquet at the Glasgow Croquet Club which is based about 20 minutes walk from Gaz's flat. There were only a few members present but my new mallet and I acquited ourselves well and managed to uphold the good name of New Zealand Croquet. But it had been a long and tiring day.
Late on Thursdy evening Gaz came home for a long weekend - the only time he'll be home until mid July when he'll be off to work again. We had a great catch-up and then spent time on Friday together until he took me for the evening plane home.
I shall blog about my travel separately.
I arrived home to be greeted by CJ and a very emotional re-union with Friend Who Knows Too Much (and, later, after dinner, with one of her daughters too). What a fabulously wonderful evening.
Today has been people, people, people.
And that's just a tiny part of what has happened this week.
But tonight at 10pm on a bright, calm evening all I can do is look out at the view from the study and the big skies and be thankful: that I am alive; that I am here; that I can write this and, more than anything, that you are amongst my friends and are reading it. Because without friends life is nothing.
Each day I have spent time at the hospital where two things strike one immediately: the wonderful staff and the camaraderie amongst the patients of each treatment area. I am TRC (Treatment Room C) and already I have met people and formed a bond. We all start at different dates and our time together will, at most, be for six weeks for a maximum of an hour each weekday. We know that the common bond of cancer that brings us together will probably only do so for a very short while. So, after the tentative and unsure meeting at one's first treatment, we greet each other as if we'd been friends for years.
On the evening of Tuesday (my first day in Glasgow this time) I went to play croquet at the Glasgow Croquet Club which is based about 20 minutes walk from Gaz's flat. There were only a few members present but my new mallet and I acquited ourselves well and managed to uphold the good name of New Zealand Croquet. But it had been a long and tiring day.
Late on Thursdy evening Gaz came home for a long weekend - the only time he'll be home until mid July when he'll be off to work again. We had a great catch-up and then spent time on Friday together until he took me for the evening plane home.
I shall blog about my travel separately.
I arrived home to be greeted by CJ and a very emotional re-union with Friend Who Knows Too Much (and, later, after dinner, with one of her daughters too). What a fabulously wonderful evening.
Today has been people, people, people.
And that's just a tiny part of what has happened this week.
But tonight at 10pm on a bright, calm evening all I can do is look out at the view from the study and the big skies and be thankful: that I am alive; that I am here; that I can write this and, more than anything, that you are amongst my friends and are reading it. Because without friends life is nothing.
GB:
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you are home and that there was a welcoming committee awaiting your arrival!
I hope that the scenery and the people that surround you bring healing.
Cynthia
Surreal-I know that feeling. My heart was so touched by your words of coming home to your "friend who knows too much"...bless my heart, indeed. Good to know that they're loving you and holding you close.
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear from you, GB and your travels...blessed, safe and returned.
☺ ♥
Heather
Good to have you back - missed you!
ReplyDelete