Home is where the heart is…

Here we are back home again after our epic holiday. It has been an outstanding break away, spending time with my lovely husband one on one and also with friends and relatives we haven’t seen for six years.

We woke up this morning for the first time in those nine weeks, in our own bed in our own home. There is nothing like being away to appreciate how much you do have in life. We love our home and I know that I for one have missed it while we have been away. Like they say, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’.

We have been to catch up with my daughter and son-in-law and our three granddaughters. I’m happy to report that the girls loved their gifts. Nice to know I can still get it right! Long may it continue. It was nice to catch up with them all and all their news and to book in to have the girls to come and stay with us.

I still find it touching that they are still keen to come and stay with Nanna and Grampy and that they haven’t grown out of it yet. Hopefully, not for a long time. They are all keen to bake again with Nanna, so that is something to look forward to. Just as I missed my home, I missed my family too. I even think I missed work!

I return to work tomorrow after all this time with some trepidation. How busy will I be? Will I still remember how to do my job? I certainly hope so! I am hoping to return to work reasonably fresh after our break, but there is bound to still be a bit of jet lag hanging about at least for the first week. As long as I don’t fall asleep at my desk!

The garden is looking drab with a lot of plants having died off with the cold and frost. Winter cleanup and pruning need to be done, so that’s pretty high on the list. Already we are planning some new plantings and projects for around the garden. It was quite telling in these last few weeks that rather than talking about our holiday and what we were doing next, we talked more about what we wanted to do once we got home. It has been a long time and we have enjoyed it, but nine weeks has been a bit long. We may need to trim back next time to seven or eight weeks perhaps?

I am a planner and always have been. Going with the flow can be a bit of a challenge. I like to know what I am doing and when and with who as much as possible. Saying that, it’s not that I can’t be spontaneous, but I just like to know what is in the plans. I think that is why I always find the first day or two back at work a bit stressful, because of my complex job you never know what surprises await. I usually have trouble sleeping the night before too, so hopefully that’s not going to happen. I know that stress is not good for Parkinson’s, but feel that I am not really stressed as such – just a tad maybe – but maybe a bit apprehensive would be more correct?

Give me a day or two and I’m sure I will get back to the swing of things.