“Roman candles that burn in the night
Yeah, you are a shining light
You lit a torch in the infinite
Yeah, you are a shining light
Yeah, you light up my life”
(Tim Wheeler)
We’ve had a week of family dinners with chats regularly lasting up until midnight this week. It has been wonderful. Elliott arrived at the weekend. Jake came home on Monday after his wanders through Portugal, Spain, and Dorset. Hadn’t seen him since January, which is the longest time we’ve ever been apart. And Robyn came home on Tuesday as a surprise.
Stories spilled out of everyone. My Soulmate squeezed my hand under the table several times to remind me to keep quiet and let them speak, but I always want to know more and ask a bajillion questions.
There was another rare occurrence this week. I was early for something. Last week I’d joined a creative writing class in Crocus, our local cancer care home from home. We’d started half an hour late as we were all chatting and having coffee and had to be hooshed up the stairs to the class, so our fearless leader Elizabeth asked if we arrive early this week, and have our coffee beforehand so could start promptly at 10.30 am.
I generally have a healthy disrespect for timekeeping, but this motley group of cancer warriors have a lot of demands on their time with appointments for treatments, check ups, hospital visits and so on, time is precious to all of us, and I wasn’t going to be the cause of wasting a moment of their time.
On Tuesday morning I got up earlier than normal, got any calls, messages, or emails I thought needed attention out of the way, and was thrilled with myself as I parked outside Crocus at 10.15 am.
Me ? 15 minutes early for something ??? I should get a medal.
I went in and made my way to the back room where everyone normally gathers for chats and coffee.
There was no one there. Bugger ! Don’t tell me that I’m still last to arrive ? I ran upstairs to the art room to discover it was empty too. I went back downstairs and heard voices in the kitchen. They couldn’t all be there ? I opened the door to find Mary, Martin and other Mary making tea.
“Where is the Writing Class ?” I asked.
“Tomorrow” they replied together.
“I want someone to take note that I was early. It’ll never happen again.”!!!
I did turn up early the following day for the class. And we were given homework, a piece of creative writing , 300 word limit, on ‘A Light In The Dark’, I’ve included my attempt in the P.P.S below.
And then on Thursday I went for a run in Rossmore with Ray…who I think is trying to kill me. He’d mentioned towards the end of our run that he’d been chugging bottles of Benylin since Tuesday fighting a cold. I could feel my throat tightening as I drove home and despite the liberal application of my tried and tested remedy of Rioja and Paracetamol, I woke up Friday morning with a stuffed head and sore throat. Everything has felt ‘woolly’ since and not conducive to scribbling my blog.
So, ironically, having been early for my class on creative writing, it has lead to my blog being three days late.
Feeling better now.
Toodles,
Paul
P.S. Our neighbour Shauna is doing a fundraiser for the Jack & Jill Foundation called ‘Dip A Day in May’. Her nephew Jack receives such great support from them that she wanted to give something back. And being so persuasive, our other neighbour Aine and my very own Soulmate now join her regularly.
She’s inviting everyone to join her on May 20th at 9.30am at Holywood Lake for yoga, tea , coffee, cake and a dip.
And you can donate here :
https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/dipadaymay
P.P.S. Shauna also pretends to like CowShite music , but that’s because she doesn’t want to offend Chrissie and the in-laws. She’s actually a huge fan of girl powered indie pop, so this week’s song is for her , She Drew The Gun’s ‘Something For The Pain’
P.P.P.S This is the 300 word story
If he hadn’t looked up at that very moment he would have continued his carefree wander through life in the wonderfully ordinary and happy fashion that he always had. Dave had spent the last 23 years leading a ‘Goldilocks’ life, things were never too bad, or never too good, they were always just right.
And then he looked up and things were never the same again.
When you look at a star in the night’s sky you believe you’re seeing a distant sun thousands of light years away. What’s actually happening is that a particle of light, a photon that left that sun millions of years ago is hitting your eye, colliding with your light sensitive pigment atoms and being absorbed by them, changed into chemical energy which is then transmitted as a message to your brain. And this photon is a particle of light that is millions of years old and is now part of you.
But that’s you.
When Dave looked up the photon that hit his eye had been travelling longer and further than any photon that had ever arrived om our Earth. It came from the centre of everything. It came from the beginning of everything. And when it hit Dave’s eye the message that it contained which was transferred to his brain wasn’t simply the message “Hey, look at me , I’m a star in the sky.” that you hear, no, the message Dave’s brain received was the original memory of the multiverse.
It was everything, absolutely everything.
It took Dave a moment or two to comprehend what had happened.
He could now do anything. Absolutely anything.
He thought further and then decision made he continued his carefree wander through life in the wonderfully ordinary and happy fashion that he always had.
