Being me in the world
Today is Nana’s birthday. I used to give Mum flowers every year on this day. I didn’t last year, because she was in hospital and because I was going to wait until she was at home, recovering from her huge op and would have time to appreciate them. I never gave them to her. This…
Sometimes there are things that happen because of an adversity that just make you sit up and smile. Or sniff. Dani posted a photograph of her and Sarah just after they had had their heads shaved at the Shavathon on Instagram. She was contacted by CANSA today to say that the photograph has won a…
It’s funny how, when you drive around Joburg to areas you don’t often (or ever) go to, it just hits you in the face that there are whole communities out there that function exactly the way the community you are used to does. I went out to Krugersdorp yesterday to see a student. Even just…
In many ways, this is my favourite time of year, or, at least, my favourite weather: the cold parts of the day are not terribly, terribly cold yet and the days themselves are blissfully clear and warm, often even hot in the sun. There is always a blue, blue sky and everything just seems clear,…
It’s funny how things dominate your thoughts, but I suppose that’s natural, especially when a date or something has a particular significance. My birthday, for example, will always have a double significance after last year. Today, by date (not day, as this date was a Friday last year), we all went to the church for…
Certain things fascinate me. At the moment it’s something about how the human body fights things. I haven’t been sick with a cold, or anything, since last September, just after the cancer was diagnosed. This is not necessarily unusual: I don’t get colds all that often. It just seems that, with all that my body…
Every so often, some opinion / evidence will suggest that I am not necessarily as capable at something as I may think I am. This is mostly, funnily enough, about things to do with Drama. Then I experience what I have actually taught one of my students, or see what I am capable of achieving…
I went for a ‘follow up ultrasound’ of my boob and non-boob today. It was really weird being back at the place where it all began. On September 8th last year, I went for the mammogram and ultrasound, ended up having a biopsy and the rest, as they say, followed on after that. I wasn’t…
I went for a paddle today – the first in what seems like forever, but is really only a week, I think. Apart from being Mother’s Day this weekend, Saturday was also the anniversary of Bill’s death, so paddling this week was all about memories of him too. In fact, the whole SA Schools thing…
I find things out about how I really feel about this cancer thing sometimes randomly. Today I had a strong feeling of ‘it’s not fair’. I have had this feeling before, almost always quite fleetingly, but also, like today, with quite a bit of a power behind it. This just tells me that, as much…