It has been a difficult few weeks and while thinking about what I could link up to Jaime Oliver's "Magic Moments" linky my initial instinct was to give it a miss as mostly life has been a bit grim since my husband's accident.
But of course there have been bright spots and picking them out has been a good reminder that every dark cloud has a silver lining - even if you have to look really carefully to find it!
I've mentioned before that I have some very lovely friends and as news spread about my husband (the tendon fixing his quad muscle to his knee completely ruptured requiring emergency surgery) they all rallied round with good wishes, offers of help and gifts.
My husband is likely to be off work for some time, months possibly. There is a small chance he will have to completely retire on medical grounds. My friends know that as we are already on a tight budget this news is devastating to us.
Their support has made coping with the last two weeks much more bearable.
I did chuckle at some of the gifts we received - some gorgeous smoked prawns brought back from the coast from a friend who knows how much I love them, a selection of Green and Black's chocolate bars which I feel are far too good for my husband who I believe would actually eat dog chocolate if it was all that was available, and my personal favourite- an entire skinned muntjac (a type of small deer) ready for me to carve up into a selection of meals.
I have never actually done this before but free food is free food and after a quick look at the internet and a quick lesson in muntjac anatomy from my friend I managed to hack off two haunch joints, four steaks, two tenderloins, a huge rack of ribs and two huge bags of stewing meat.
One (newish) friend from church offered to buy my daughter's ballet kit as a birthday present and someone else deposited money in our account saying that if and when my husband was better maybe he could do some handyman work for him. "No rush" he said. I was beyond touched especially since this person is not in my immediate circle of friends.
Another unexpected magic moment was the call I made to claim Employment Support Allowance. The lady who helped me claim for my husband was gentle and kind and helpful without being patronising or judgmental.
She did gently point out that my husband was no longer self-employed but unemployed which stopped me in my tracks for a moment.... then a fellow blogger sent a message of support in which she mentioned her husband was medically retired. I'd never heard that status but it's one we may have to take on board depending how my husband's recovery goes.
And the brightest spot in all of this? Well it's been lovely having DH home. He usually works so hard, often six days a week that we rarely have much time together.
He might not be able to move around much but I will be making the most of him being stuck in one place to help the children with their homework and reading and I've already been bringing him things from around the house I've been nagging him to fix for ages.
We have a long road to recovery ahead of us, and I am sure there will be bumps in the road but hopefully this time next year I will be able to look back at this time as a distant memory!
But of course there have been bright spots and picking them out has been a good reminder that every dark cloud has a silver lining - even if you have to look really carefully to find it!
I've mentioned before that I have some very lovely friends and as news spread about my husband (the tendon fixing his quad muscle to his knee completely ruptured requiring emergency surgery) they all rallied round with good wishes, offers of help and gifts.
My husband is likely to be off work for some time, months possibly. There is a small chance he will have to completely retire on medical grounds. My friends know that as we are already on a tight budget this news is devastating to us.
Their support has made coping with the last two weeks much more bearable.
I did chuckle at some of the gifts we received - some gorgeous smoked prawns brought back from the coast from a friend who knows how much I love them, a selection of Green and Black's chocolate bars which I feel are far too good for my husband who I believe would actually eat dog chocolate if it was all that was available, and my personal favourite- an entire skinned muntjac (a type of small deer) ready for me to carve up into a selection of meals.
I have never actually done this before but free food is free food and after a quick look at the internet and a quick lesson in muntjac anatomy from my friend I managed to hack off two haunch joints, four steaks, two tenderloins, a huge rack of ribs and two huge bags of stewing meat.
One (newish) friend from church offered to buy my daughter's ballet kit as a birthday present and someone else deposited money in our account saying that if and when my husband was better maybe he could do some handyman work for him. "No rush" he said. I was beyond touched especially since this person is not in my immediate circle of friends.
Another unexpected magic moment was the call I made to claim Employment Support Allowance. The lady who helped me claim for my husband was gentle and kind and helpful without being patronising or judgmental.
She did gently point out that my husband was no longer self-employed but unemployed which stopped me in my tracks for a moment.... then a fellow blogger sent a message of support in which she mentioned her husband was medically retired. I'd never heard that status but it's one we may have to take on board depending how my husband's recovery goes.
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| In happier days |
And the brightest spot in all of this? Well it's been lovely having DH home. He usually works so hard, often six days a week that we rarely have much time together.
He might not be able to move around much but I will be making the most of him being stuck in one place to help the children with their homework and reading and I've already been bringing him things from around the house I've been nagging him to fix for ages.
We have a long road to recovery ahead of us, and I am sure there will be bumps in the road but hopefully this time next year I will be able to look back at this time as a distant memory!
