Post 411: Why Is It So Wintery Today?
Yesterday was indeed a red-letter day, and no mistake.
Every waking hour since, my mind has had a baby in it. Not what it looks like, nor the sex of the little thing, but how it will affect the family.
It has ended my need for another generation to pass on not only genes, but also a love of the world, because the baby’s mum and dad both feel that the world is very precious.
It’s funny how things change. After my post on the PC (not Police Constable), part of this magnificent website, which was all about my increasing desire to become a grandad; now it’s now so close I could almost touch it (in a non-creepy way).
It’s only a few hours since finding out about the little foetus, but everything has changed, and it’s wonderful.
In stark contrast to the wonderful news, I’ve had a battle royale with an insurance company’s rules on getting money paid out.
It’s quite amazing that a suggestion of theirs in the first instance has caused so much friction and emotional damage over the last few days. It’s even led to an apology in the form of a big box of chocolates made by Holdsworth for my absolute emotional meltdown over this withdrawal.
In fact, their own regulations and processes are strangling the smooth progress of something that’s supposed to speed up this money transfer.
It needs a concerted effort to rethink how this works and find a way of helping rather than hindering a process that is only ever going to be successful if everyone has compassion and remembers why the customer is there in the first place.
So my birthday was marred by a phone call that made my emotional juices flow well before the news later that changed everything.
The two extremes were miles apart and, boy, did they cause me to rethink my future this year.
If this is how I feel now, what will happen later when the structures that have been there for a lifetime are broken up and replaced in seconds? We now have someone to carry on the successive improvements that have been handed down since time immemorial.
As the wider family comes to terms with the news, I am also trying to arrange the interment of my mum, whose ashes are beside me as I write.
It’s been a great big push, but we’re nearly there now.
The Friar has now been given our preferred date, the 10th of July, in just over a month’s time, to finally put Mum, Nanny and daughter to rest beside her mother.
The only downside to this burial location, in her mum’s grave, is that because it’s outside the specified area where cremated remains are usually placed (in this ancient graveyard beside the church), we can’t have a memorial of any kind directly above the remains.
However, if we stick to the regulations, we can add Mum’s name to the existing memorial that has stood the test of time for decades.
There is another possibility too.
Because the memorial stone has been worn by the ravages of time, it may be possible to replace the whole stone and add Mum’s name alongside the copied inscription already there, memorialising my Nanny, Big Nan.
It’s always the way. Something I try my best to help with and make easier for the family ends up becoming a complicated mess that’s not easy to deal with and simply adds another layer of anxiety to choose from amongst everything else.
Why me?
Why do I always get myself into a tangle over every little thing?
Why can’t it be easier?
It’s now less than a week until I start work, and I’m liking the feel of it. Only two hours a day, but I still like the idea of it.
Tuesday next week.
I could take some sweets in. It always smooths the pathway, but I mustn’t eat my way through every day.
But first and foremost, let’s think about a new life only months away from existence.
Late November is still a long way off, but I must stay strong.
Good night, readers.
Take care,
And thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all the super-kind messages yesterday.
It made me feel that you do care and are always there.
Thank you so much.
