Reflections on 2014

Well we have just returned a day earlier than planned from our camping holiday at Lorne in Victoria, some unexpected heavy rains for Friday and Saturday  convinced us to pack up camp and return home with a damp tent rather than a drenched one. We had a lovely time spending days at the beach and nights playing Phase 10 ( card game ) and Rummikub along with spending time with my eldest daughters fiance and his father. Over Christmas and New Year there was a bit of discussion about the year that was and how it had at times challenged our resilience and that we were grateful for the good times amongst the struggles. Both my girls and I live with a genetic medical condition that impacts us everyday but we make the most of what we can and are happy with life, There is no treatment or cure we just need to manage and adapt as necessary, according to our Specialists we are experts at this and constantly surprise them with what we manage. Having said all of that there is no time for feeling sorry for ourselves as we are also very good at kicking each other in the tail if we should start to drag it.

Early in 2014 DD16 had been awarded Most Valuable Player in her first season at her new netball club and had also played in an Open Women's winning grand final with her old netball club coming from 11 goals down at half time. So her year had started well, then the challenges began on so many levels with her medical condition. This has meant stopping medication, then trialling other medications over 3-4 months and this was one of the most difficult times so far, leaving her at times completely bed bound and missing 3 months of school and returning part time for the remainder of the year. Then as the medications were finally sorted out and her health improved again a separate condition developed in both of her lower legs which has resulted in her not being able to play netball for the past 4 months. DD16 lives and breathes netball and this alone at times I felt was the only thing that kept her spirits up. So when she was told she could not play netball until 2015 and after extensive rehabilitation I was worried. But no she refocused on umpiring and learning to coach and take statistics for teams and as she said " I will use this time to pack other skills into my bag of tricks and be a better player for it when I return". I breathed a sigh of relief and was grateful for her level of resilience. Late December saw her finally commence her rehabilitation although very slow she is on the way. And despite missing so much school she still won an award at her school's end of year presentation night.

DD23 also had issues with her condition but fared a bit better with medication changes and increases and she was lucky enough to have this all sorted out in time to travel to Singapore. She had been lucky enough to be chosen to go with a small group of other nursing students from her University to Singapore to visit their health training facilities and Hospitals and found it amazing. Both her and another student stayed on another 5 days to do some touring and sightseeing and have some fabulous pictures, you will see some on the blog soon. In September her boyfriend of 5 years proposed and they are currently planning their engagement party. She has also learned that she has been chosen to go with her University to Malaysia 2015 on another nursing program so this has meant some juggling with dates for the engagement party.

We also suddenly lost my brother in 2014 and this knocked the stuffing right out of us and Christmas was a little different for us this year. My brother had lived with my girls and I for a number of years and  my eldest was very close to him so it has taken some time to come to terms with this and we will soon  need to deal with his personal belongings but are now in a better place to do so. We were lucky to have him in our lives and have some lovely photos and memories especially of DD23 party when she turned 21. My brother worked so hard putting up marquees, fairy lights, balloons and worked all night to make sure his "Dudette" as he called her had a great night. DD has already decided that for her engagement party she will have "George's Bar" in his honour.

Well that's enough of 2014, looking forward to 2015. Looking to work out this blogging thing and joining some groups and following other blogs. Tomorrow will be an update on the garden and some quilting projects.

Thanks for dropping by,

Maxine