This past week I have been away visiting my son and daughter-in-law in Brisbane and the weather was really superb. As I travelled home last night from the airport in Melbourne the rain came bucketing down so hard it flooded the roadway and traffic was slowed to a crawl in places – what a contrast!

My time away was even more special because I was able to catch up with two of my grand-daughters and their partners. One of them is to be married in November and I was there for the excitement of them buying their first house where they will live in rural Queensland. Our son and his wife have also just bought what they plan to be their retirement home in Hervey Bay, and we travelled up there for a few days to inspect and do some renovations. It was a happy and significant time for them, and for me; now I can visualise where they will be, sometime in the near future, when retirement comes for them.

It was a fabulously restful time for me, but not entirely rejuvenative; my silly mind dwells constantly on my ‘absent’ Dorothy and I find it difficult to relate to the lives and doings of others, even family. I know how sad that sounds, and it is! This mindset makes me despondent and miserable and I am conscious of the depressive effect this must have upon those around me. Now that I’m ‘home’ again and have visited Dorothy I feel much better, but I need to move on and find a way to break this despondency.

I will go and prepare my dinner now, watch a bit of telly then hope for a good night’s sleep and try to make tomorrow “the first day of the rest of my life”. I’ll catch up on all the daily living chores, like restocking my groceries, doing some washing, monitoring my expenses and paying some bills. More importantly, I have resolved to make some forward plans (sometime) for an inexpensive holiday, maybe in a few months, away from my loving family, just on my own. That will sound like I don’t want to be with family (which I don’t mean). Perhaps, like me, you simply crave a break from everything, just for a short while? I know in my heart that, if and when I do it, I’ll not be happy till I’m back here, able to visit my love, again!