Well, its been snowing on and off here for three days, none of it has settled until this morning when I woke up to a dusting of the white stuff.
Its been a emotional week and the fact that people keep saying, ohhhh look its snowing, and I look out of the window and cant see it falling can only mean one thing, outside I can feel it on my skin but still cant see it, unless its really massive flakes.
For a moment it did make me sad, but, you know me, I don't have time to be sad for long!
My eldest daughter turned 19 yesterday, god knows where the years have gone, she has turned into a beautiful, clever and confident young lady with a very sensible outlook on life, so I kinda think I couldn't have done too bad as a parent.
Funny how when they are babies, you are in a safe zone, they all follow the same routines, eat, sleep, poo, repeat, you read the baby manuals and most of the time they arrive more or less safely into toddlerhood, even then you as a parent are following the crowd as you trot along to nursery, pre school and so on, slowly they are forming into little individual characters, even then you guide them in the right direction, or what you believe is the right direction, they start to learn from your habits and behaviours, and when at school you are confident that you are intrusting your little bean into a establishment that will keep them safe and provide a good education...all is good.
THEN they turn into teenagers, there is nothing quite like a teenager, suddenly you, as a parent are loosing control, I don't mean failing but that small person you have had by your side holding your hand and craving your guidance and security suddenly knows everything and develops a delightful habit of pissing you off every time they open their mouths. This, however, is something we need to tolerate, because this is a very delicate period of time in their lives and the way you behave and the reactions you give will define them as they reach adulthood.
Then, when you think you have done all the hard work and they leave school and go off to make their future, you are suddenly left with the huge feeling of loss and the knowledge that you cant control what happens to them now, you cant keep them safe, monitor their eating, drinking and pooing habits, and you ant tell them off or tell them what to do, you have to take this massive step back and let them find themselves, develop these personalities and gain experiences that have made us the adults we are today.
For me, I am incredibly proud of the child that grew up as the 'very quiet one' of the class, the one that 'wont cope in school', who knew she would be studying at a London college, navigating the trains and tubes with confidence, who knew that the same child would get herself a job in sales and confidently deal with members of the public everyday, the same person going off to concerts and festivals around the country, meeting new people and making new friends, from that tiny little bundle that I brought home 19 years ago has grown a respectable, wise and incredible adult.
I have been fortunate, but how would I have managed 19 years ago if my sight had been as bad as it is now? How do people with sight loss cope with babies and children? It conjures up a million different images in my head, right from treading on toys that you can see, to being unable to identify a chicken pox on your child's skin.
I mean, why do the make children's medicine white? I know antibiotics for children are usually a yellow or pink liquid, but why is liquid pain killer white? and then they give you a white measuring spoon in the packet, why on earth do they do that? Why cant they make the spoon black?
I cant tell you the times that I have wondered if it would be safe to put food colouring into the 6 plus calpol just so that I could see it when I poured it onto the spoon, these companies do tend to put white or clear spoons in the box with medicine, for me and you, its a disaster, you either over spill the spoon sending sticky liquid all over the floor, bed or your child, or you are dripping tiny amounts onto the spoon that it takes half hour to administer 5ml of calpol.
I wonder if anyone has asked these companies if they could change the colour of their spoons?
Anyway, this brings me nicely onto the exciting news that I have been wanting to share with you all...
On the news years blog, if you read it, you will remember I talked about new years resolutions and making changes for my future. A few weeks ago I was browsing the RNIB website for jobs in my local area, and I found a role as a voluntary community connector, so I applied, not really expecting to get a reply, but the following day I received a email inviting me for a telephone interview, this took place and I am now a community connector for my area!!!!
I was and still am, absolutely buzzing, I feel like a different person and I cant wait to be out supporting people in their homes and community, I literally couldn't wait, so I went off and started asking cafes in the area if they would support us by making a large print menu or two. The very first tearoom I went into, which happens to be, MOLLYS TEAROOM IN HITCHIN, HERTFORDSHIRE, printed out a large print menu on the same day! I was triumphant!!
But, now I have fallen behind a bit as I came down with the fluy thing, then the family got it, and life seems to be getting in the way.
Then I got a call from RNIB connect asking if I would like to take part in a radio interview and they would talk about my new role and Diary of a blind lady, so, last Tuesday I did a recorded radio interview over the telephone, it was fantastic, well, from my end it was fantastic, it was with a lady who is affectively my boss I suppose, she made me feel welcome and relaxed, but above all she made me realise just how much I want to help, how passionate I have become toward making sure people with sight loss get the support they need, whether that is through making sure they are in touch with the right support units out there or simply making sure there are accessible amenities in the local community, just like MOLLYS, I would never entertain going into a tearoom on my own, for fear of not knowing where the toilets were and the menu being unreadable for me, so I will continue to look for establishments like MOLLYS who are prepared to enlarge a menu, this particular tearoom I chose is full of natural light, there are no steps and the toilet is on the same level, so if you happen to be in the area do go to Mollys and ask for a large print menu, the staff are so kind and friendly and most importantly, the cake is incredible!
Anyhoo, the snow is melting, so I need to take Ralph out for a quick walk,
Speak soon and stay safe xx
PS) I will let you know when the radio interview is broadcast in case anyone would like to listen to it.
PPS) Mollys tearoom, 96 Bancroft, Hitchin SG5 1NQ, just in case you want to visit xx
EDIT....not sure he looks like he fancies a walk this morning!!
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