The Regulars...Not Forgotten!

The Mrs. has been keeping tabs on me this week. She has been concerned about my frame of mind and wanted to offer lots of tactful and sympathetic advice, like "Don't take time off from work again. You're going crazy." Lol! She's nothing if not honest. In many ways, she was completely right. The time off work was what I needed, but the time available to me to brood over things without interruption was probably not what I needed.

A friend at church said to me yesterday, "Work is good." I resisted the impulse to raise a cynical eyebrow or choke on my own saliva in objection (lol), but he's totally right. Work is good. We were made to work. That doesn’t mean we were made to work in dead-end jobs that drain us of all joy, or don't help us to exercise our strengths and improve on our weaknesses. It just means that we were made to fulfil tasks, to be productive, to be creative, to have a purpose. This doesn't necessarily have to be in a professional capacity, either. It can be in parenthood, in creative outlets, in extra-curricular activities. Whatever avenue we use, we certainly weren't made to just sit around being idle all our lives. I wasn't completely idle this week. I did take the necessary time to rest, but I also completed quite a few little errands I had outstanding around the house. I wrote a lot. I read a little. I recorded a couple of songs and set one of them to a random video of photos. But I did watch an awful lot of trash TV and I did mull over things a lot. I started to wallow in my misery a little. When you're a deep thinker like me and a little too cerebral, too much time for this isn't always a good thing.

The Mrs. reminded me of when she was going through one of her most difficult times and I would call her every day on my lunch break, just to have a quick chat and check she was OK. She hasn't forgotten it, for some reason. So this week, she reciprocated in kind and called me every day on her way home from shift to just see how I was. Sometimes, a small part of me felt like I didn't really need checking up on. I realised that sometimes my stubborn, independent and proud streak makes me feel like I should just cope on my own, because I can't rely on anyone else, or maybe don't want to. But it was actually nice just having someone check to see I was OK, having someone care enough to take a few minutes to remind me to keep my head up.

Lolly had texted me a few times this week, knowing that I was away from work. I didn't even have the energy to reply immediately, as I usually would, to explain how things were. She had also sent me an email at work from her new work address. KM had sent me an email keeping me updated and had left some encouragement via the comments facility. Big Sis had been sterling entertainment on the days she was off work at the same time. I had used my bad influence to draw her into my world of trash telly and we generally just had fun being silly. She really cracks me up. My uni mates contacted me to arrange a catch-up lunch in a couple of weeks. Miss BG texted me to tell me Maxwell was playing in London at the end of October and did I want to go with? Hell yes! She even booked the tickets for me, because I am too poor to pay myself at the moment. My church friend Mr J. texted me at the beginning of the week to wish me a nice week off, to encourage me with some Scripture and to tell me to ignore the rain and see the sunshine in my eyes, which made me smile.

At the lay-preaching course I attended today with Big Sis, our friends from our old church gave us hugs and encouragement to assure us that they were not happy with the letter the Pastor had sent and that they hadn't supported how things had been done. They asked us to send nice messages of support to Mum and asked us to come and visit them soon. It was very sweet of them to do so and reassuring to be reminded of how genuine they are and how much people care. When we got home, I had a terrible migraine after getting only 4 hours' sleep the night before, but Bro-in-Law was having a barbeque with on of his friends, who I had a quick chat with. I soon had to go and lie down to try and soothe the throbbing pain in my head. Later on, Big Sis brought me a big plate of roast veggies (lots of which were from our very own garden), veggie sausages and quiche. I was so hungry and thankful, I could have cried. It tasted absolutely delicious.

I have noticed that I have been so preoccupied with my new/past relationships, that I have forgotten to appreciate my existing long-standing friendships! I really do know some wonderful, lovely people. I don't know how I would have got through the week without them. Thank you, my lovelies! You rock my socks!