Slight Delay

Oh man - went to the hospital today and Tara's wound hasn't totally healed yet. There's some dead skin/tissue that needs to come off - so we have to put this muti on every day for a week to soften it in the hope it'll flake off more easily. And we have to make sure the medical ointment doesn't spread onto good skin - or it'll kill that. Argh! Altho' luckily we have Doctor Tone in the house and he's fab at that kind of stuff. But blah - it means all the fun stuff like bathing without a plastic bag around her leg, or swimming - are on hold for at least an extra week. But Tara's not upset - she was just soooooo proud to show off her naked wound to  Cassie - first time Cas had seen it without the bandage - Tara was just grinning at Cas who admitted "it looked very ugly in the beginning but once the nurse cleaned off the dry blood, it looks lovely Tara". Theme tune swirling round my head today is "Dead skin in the middle of your stump..." sung to Loudon Wainwright's Dead Skunk (altho' thank goodness it's not stinking to high heaven!).

Talking heaven, it's been a bit of a melancholy 24 hours. A good friend's brother passed away (and our thoughts are so with you M&C) and in a week's time today it'll be the 1-year anniversary of Paul's passing away. We've physically missed Paul a lot during the last few weeks - wish he could've been here sharing this incredible experience with us, even tho' we know he's with us in spirit. The girls have felt it too - Tara was sketching in her brilliant Lizzie Loo art book when it asked her to draw the person she most wished was on the other side of the telephone - and she immediately said 'Uncle Paul'. So we've decided we're all gonna write him a letter next week coz we know he'll be able to read them. 

Also happened to pick up some old books and papers from my mum's place yesterday, and came across the farewell card her and my dad gave me when I left South Africa in 1990. In it my dad wrote "GO YOUR HARDEST!" (his caps) - and I think he's soooo right - for then and for now; and he'd be SO proud to see Tarakie's approach to life - she seriously couldn't go at it any harder! Or any funner (Ted's word)! So even tho' some melancholy moments meander into our days, it's like there's so much love in those moments for our special people and for life itself that the sadness evaporates and we're left with an overwhelming sense of joy and gratitude - actually celebration if that makes sense - for everybody and everything we've had and have in our lives. And we'll keep going our hardest - which is especially easy with all the amazing support from all of you - thank you, thank you for each being so, so special.