I turned 41 this week. I am not ashamed of it, I am not embarrassed
to say it. I am 41. I made it to 41. I don’t quite understand the hang ups
people have with the numbers. Why is 40 so different than 40? I feel that birthdays are an important marking of time. I
have a birthday in January to celebrate my birth and beginning in this life. I
have a brain birthday in February to celebrate the beginning of my new life, to
celebrate that miracle of surviving.
For me this is a time of reflection. What have I done, where have I come from,
where am I going, who have I helped?
This is my post from 2 years 11 months.- (somewhat
trimmed)
December
we had the chaos which is Christmas. We spent part of Christmas Day with Kim's
Aunty Phoebe and the family (16 in all that day I think), following that we
spent some time with the Glissons (My brothers fiancés family) It was a
wonderful Jam packed day. Boxing Day we dialled it back a bit and had the
"Walker" Christmas at Dads house. It too was a wonderful day spent
with my dad, my brothers and their respective other halves, our son and our
nephew.
This time Christmas day was spent with Kim and James. In
the afternoon, Lynda Kim and I went up to ‘Best of All’ look out in
Springbrook. Our family Christmas was held on January 10th. The
reason this Christmas was so quiet and then delayed, is that it was very
painful to have Christmas without Dad.
I
decided to pick a word for 2014. This year will be 'Bloom'! 2003 - 2011 the
word was ‘Survive’ 2011 - 2013 the word was ‘heal’.
This year is ‘Keep going’. This last year has been
challenging and on occasion made me question my direction and my confidence.
Scrolling
forward a bit, we had a BBQ for my 40th at the beautiful Cedar Creek Lodges
Sapphire Room on Sunday. It was fantastic having family and friends come for
around the country to help celebrate the day. Thank you to +Alison Christensen
and +Steve Christensen for coming all the way from Victoria, and thank you for bringing
the hugs from our friends there :) Tuesday night we had some of the family over
for dinner for my Dads 71st.
This year I went away with +Alison Christensen for a few
days in the lead up to ‘our’ birthdays. I was not as devastated as I thought I
would be in celebrating my birthday without Dad there to share it. Having
shared birthdays for the last 40 years together it was crushing to do this one
without him. Instead we had some family over and had pizza.
The
amazing news is that after spending last year studying my uni prep course and
receiving honours across the board, giving me an OP 6 equivalent, I was
accepted into Bachelor of Science (Clinical Science) at Griffith! Another step
down the road to researching brain tumours.
This year I finished first semester with good scores, two
5’s (credit) and a 6 (Distinction) I deferred second semester as my father
passed away during the mid-year break. When I tried to go back I found I was in
too bad a place to manage it. I am still trying to decide if I will go back for
first semester this year.
I went to Biomed Link 2013 and saw some very impressive
research. It really made me feel that I should continue with my degree. I was
still in a really shocking place when I went down there so it was a challenge
on a number of levels. I will be going to the Brain Tumour Support Service
Consumer Forum on February 7th. I am trying to keep myself going and
interested.
A
dream made reality. Before I had my tumour removed, I set a goal to climb all
three climbable bridges in the southern Hemisphere. The Story Bridge in
Brisbane, The Sydney Harbour Bridge (obviously in Sydney) and the Auckland
Bridge (..in Auckland NZ). Yesterday my wonderful husband gave me a gift to do
the dawn Story Bridge climb next weekend!!!
In November I did the night climb of Sydney harbour bridge! I now have two done and
one to go. I will have to start working on a trip to Auckland!
The
good/bad news was that the position Kim applied for in WA has fallen through.
Bad news obviously as it was a fabulous opportunity for him to gain even more
experience in the company he currently works for. Good news, as I don't lose my
husband for 2 years while he works 3 on 1 off.
Kim was made redundant last year and has started
contracting while he looks for full time work. On the other hand he has
completed his Masters degree and graduated in November
2015 holds a lot of opportunities and challenges. We will
have to wait and see where this year will take us! Don’t forget to keep going.
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