it's been an up and down week....

i think i might start with the down, coz then i can end on a good note! ben and i went to canberra on friday last week so we could celebrate a good friends 40th on saturday - we did that, it was nice, and she loved the pressie i picked out for her (this is not part of the 'down' but an intro as to how the down started)...then knowing it would be a huge weekend, we drove back from canberra on sunday am so we would be able to go to another good friends son's bar mitzvah...we got back @ 2pm, i had a bad headache so went to bed for a few hours rest, and when i woke up had a migraine, so we weren't even able to go :-( turned out it probably wasn't a migraine but a virus of some sort, and i ended up sick for almost the entirety of the week...

i managed to drag myself to work monday, mainly coz i had a meeting with my boss about my role! now things are not official yet (altho i am assured by monday they will be) but my role is about to be declared redundant - which to any of you that know me well, know that i have not had the busiest or most interesting of six months in this role...i went into this role with high expectations about the sort of work i would get to do and the things i would learn, but sadly, they just haven't materialised...i have offered my services at work to almost anyone who needed things done in order to remain gainfully employed...but as of a couple of weeks ago i came clean (refer previous post) as i realised that the pressure of having to look busy was taking far too much of a toll, and sadly, only on me...

in addition to having a meeting with my boss, i had requested 30 minutes with the head of our job family, a person i have the highest personal regard for and have enjoyed meeting with over the last 2 - 3 years on an informal and irregular basis...she was great! very supportive of what i wanted to do and essentially offered 'what can i do to help?'...suffice it to say i left work that day feeling clear on the timelines, and very very supported in what i want to do next (which i'm not going to post just yet!)...but let me just say that the plan is very much underway...

when i called my mum on thursday to wish her happy birthday she updated me on the situation with my grandfather - turns out he has now secured a room in a nursing home which is only minutes away from where my grandmother (and him until he went into hospital five weeks ago) lives...and even though this is good in that he will now get round the clock support, it saddens me more than i can say to think of them as living apart...my grandmother's heart must be breaking and i wish i could do something to make it different...sad cold reality is i can't, despite me wishing i could...they have been married for 68 years later this month and in that time, other than during the war, they wouldn't have spent a lot of time apart...now my grandmother (and indeed my grandfather - altho he is less mentally aware than she is) has to adjust to a life that perhaps she hadn't counted on...it just makes me really sad :-(

so then the final thing i want to post about is a chat with one of my mentees (arguably my favourite mentee, and someone who herself has had a very tough time of late, someone i admire and like enormously)...we always have loads to catch up on whenever we meet (function of both being busy and not being able to catch up pershaps as often as we'd like)...so she updated me on what was going on for her, i told her about what was happening at work for me and what 'plan' i had...was great! so we landed on a slight change in execution of my plan, and one that i am much happier with! i guess even though the head of our job family had offered her help, what she suggested and i agreed to, didn't sit quite right with me (and don't get me wrong, it was nothing other than an innocent and genuine offer) and so i have landed now on a way to have her involved that is a much better outcome for me...i know i know, sorry, it's still quite cryptic but it will all become clearer in the fullness of time!

so, despite the ups and downs of the week, and despite me feeling sick most of the week, there were some good things, and at least i can start the coming week with a sense of knowing, rather than a sense of 'not'...

last day (subject to a comparable and interesting opportunity presenting itself) will be somewhere between april 17th and may 17th so not very long at all!

and in a late breaking news item, australia seemed to have regained some good form in cricket and currently have south africa on the ropes in the 2nd test! bring it on...

nite
xx