Happy sunny & snowy Easter 2021!

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And just like that, it’s April! There have been so many thoughts/prompts this week that have motivated me to get a post uploaded:

• I haven’t yet posted anything so far this year….
• I posted last Easter, I should post this Easter….
• I’ve got a few days off work, I really should write a post….
• Facebook memory of James skiing the year he was diagnosed with Perthes
• A year since first lockdown; second wave of home schooling
• Cookie’s 1st birthday and this week it’s a year since she arrived into our home
• Beautiful Easter Sunday, James did his longest walk so far – 6.5km/4 miles
• What on earth is going on with the weather?….

I should probably break this up into a few shorter posts but it’s going to cover 4 months in one hit, sorry! Make an extra large tea or coffee for a longer read!

Lockdown life

Of course the year started with the schools closing again, which I was dreading, but I promised myself to not get as stressed about it as before which was achieved mostly due to the school, this time, getting Microsoft Teams sorted, and having the connection made a huge difference. Still hard to juggle work and home schooling with a pretty constant flow of distractions but nevertheless, it seemed more organised/structured, and a greater sense of a ‘school day’.

It’s snow time!

Cookie’s first time experiencing snow and needless to say she was as excited and caught up in the fun as the rest of us! This was also the first year James could really enjoy it as a) we had snow and b) his hip thankfully was able to withstand the hours of playing in the snow and walking back up the sledging hill multiple times (not easy for any of us it seemed!)

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Cookie’s first birthday

Hard to believe it’s a year since we spent February half term waiting for the call to say the puppies had been born and know for sure if we were definitely getting one of them! She’s been such an amazing addition to our family and my heart melts whenever I see James with his hairy canine sibling, full of love for her (even though I still have to do all the work, no surprise there!). I think we made a good job of spoiling her, and she got a walk with her boyfriend Max too, and they always have a good romp! 🙂

Back to school school!

8th March: This will always be a memorable day with mixed emotions for several reasons, the two main ones being; the schools really did re-open, but it was also the day that my Father-in-law sadly passed away after suffering from vascular dementia. 😦

Easter weekend/holiday

We kicked off the Easter weekend with a day trip to Worthing on Good Friday, a frequent sea-side getaway where Howard’s Dad often took the family, and provided not only a lovely trip down memory lane for Howard, his sister and neice, but a much needed change of scenery for all of us.

I’m not going to lie…it was f,f,f,f,freeeeeezing, but thankfully the sun broke through just in time for fish and chips take-away lunch on the beach, and it was a gorgeous afternoon. And! What I really really enjoyed was being able to go away and not have to pack the wheelchair (‘just in case’) and not worry about how far along the sea front to walk and back….James was taking it all in his stride! Long may it continue….

Reminiscing – happy/sad/hopeful

I do love Facebook memories suddenly surfacing pics and videos from previous years and of course Easter holidays always means a quite a few things popping up. Our previous ski holidays always show up but for some reason it hit me more this year, perhaps because it’s now 4 years ago, and the memory starts to require a jog on some of the details. I loved watching the videos of little James skiing. (I’d share them but haven’t paid the upgrade for ‘premium media’!). Smiling and laughing, feeling so proud and happy at how well he was doing, and then also so sad, that just a month later, May 2017, we spent the May half term holiday at the hospital trying to find out why he was suddenly limping.

I know now, from my understanding of Perthes, it was a matter of time to be discovered. I don’t believe it would be something he will have been able to avoid. Is it hereditary? We don’t know. The cause? We don’t know. I’ll always wonder if it was this ski holiday that made it surface a few weeks later. Or would it have happened then anyway, and it’s totally unrelated? Or some other event/incident would have triggered it. But I guess it was always there, lurking, waiting to spring on us.

I have it on my list of questions for the next check up later this year, (provided we are still going in the right direction, and his next scan confirms it) “Will skiing ever be an option again?” James may not have the inclination (Howard doesn’t!) but just knowing it’s an option for James, if he wanted to, would be amazing! I am certainly going to live in hope. If there are professional footballers earning their millions, who had Perthes as kids, then I can hope for James to give whatever he wants a go too!

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Sunny Easter Sunday

What gives me that hope is how amazingly well James is coping with our Cookie walks! We’ve been slowly nudging up the distance. (Slow, being the operative word, as he still walks at snails pace, but I’m pretty certain he’d do that even with perfect hips!) And I just love that I can consider family walks of a weekend, with friends, and explore new places. Something I really wasn’t sure how was going to play out when we decided to get a dog.

On Easter Sunday, we made use of our National Trust membership and headed to Cookham, and followed a 6.5 km/4 mile circular walk in glorious sunshine, blue sky, and a pleasant mix of Thames side pathway, stretches of meadows, and a short steep climb to get some stunning views. I would say James actually probably did an even greater distance if you count the repeated extra runs up and down the hills and slopes, and this definitely marked his furthest distance yet. He did want to sit and rest not far from the car park towards the end, so not sure I would push it any more than that for the time being, but who knows, perhaps a post at a later date in time might be reporting a 10 km walk!?

Good to reflect and remember

Despite having not been anywhere, and the usual chaos of clubs and social events not happening, and the inability to spend time with loved ones outside of the household, the weeks and months still fly by surprisingly quickly. It’s been good to take the time to write this post today as it forces me a to have a small moment of reflection and remind myself of all the good things, the achievements, and everything still to come.

A difference a year makes?

It’s actually no longer hard to believe that we are where we are with regards to Covid-19, 12 months on, and we’ve still got a way to go yet. I do worry too much is opening back up too soon. It would be a shame to have to go into yet another lockdown, or for the schools to close again. It’s seems impossible to strike the balance. Yes, the vaccination program is progressing, but the majority of the population still need it. But for now, we just have to keep looking ahead, be sensibly safe. Tomorrow, James is going to see his grandparents for a couple of hours, the first time in 6 months. In two day’s time, we’ll have had Cookie for a whole year. Next week, James’ swimming lessons will resume (hoorah!), and beyond that we might even start seeing similar weather to this time a year ago – unlike today!!

Thanks for reading (skimming/glancing/scrolling) to the end. I have set myself a personal challenge in October so stay tuned for more details on that in later posts!