We have another visit to St James’ Hospital tomorrow, for Karen’s third appointment of the week. There is a saying that “Good things come in threes.” To plagiarize the irascible waster Jim Royle (in the comedy The Royle Family), I would add the suffix of “My arse!” to that sentence.
They also say that “Good things come to those who wait!” Well, if that is the case, the Father Ted Xmas jumper I ordered must be bloody brilliant, as I’ve been waiting for the chuffing thing over two weeks now!
As a cynical middle aged man, I take proverbial advice with a pinch of salt. The only one I subscribe any validity to is the proverb “Good things come to those who give Gary Strachan £1,000”, which I recommend be universally adhered to!
Karen’s hospital visits so far this week have been for a meeting with her oncologist on Monday and treatment on Tuesday. Tomorrow is her final week of the ‘Hope’ course, which is designed to build coping strategies to effectively deal with her illness, from a mental health perspective.
Last week, in in my blog ‘Where There’s Hope’, I wrote about Karen’s ‘Hope’ course and how encouraged I was at her embracing this avenue of support. That being the case, I will not regurgitate my thoughts on the subject! …… Cue a massive sigh of relief to visitors of this blog!
Although sceptical of some of the advisory musings bestowed upon us by proverbs, I do believe, the guidance advocated in some inspirational quotes is worth absorbing and acting upon.
On Tuesday, while we were at the Bexley Wing, St James’ Hospital, we happened upon various craft stalls and a tombola to raise money for various cancer charities.
Keen to contribute to these much needed charities, Karen and I meandered between stalls searching for a suitable donor to our beneficence.
Being unable to decide where to donate, we decided to become benefactors to more than one of the charity. This resulted in winning a bottle of mulled wine in the tombola; as well as purchasing carrot cake slices, a cup cake candle (which looks and smells good enough to eat) and a rustic sign containing an inspirational quote that moved me!
I don’t mean it moved me spiritually. I’m referring to the fact it landed on my foot causing me to stagger backwards!
The quote that adorned the sign, ‘In The End, We Only Regret The Dreams We Didn’t Chase’, inspired me. I decided that from that point onwards I would follow my dream. It will no doubt end in actress Margot Robbie taking out a restraining order, but hey the sign says I’d have regrets not chasing it!
Seriously though I found the words, on this particular item of craftwork, bore some relevance to my circumstances. These signs, containing edifying quotes and proverbs, were hand made by the stallholder. They all seemed to be selling well, apart from the ‘Good things come to those who give Gary Strachan £1,000” for some reason!
This is my 200th blog I’ve written in the eight months or so since I started blogging, on my website garystrachan63.com . It was a challenging but therapeutic journey. It encompassed laughter, tears, the broadening of knowledge voids and the use of the word ‘bollocks’ on numerous occasions! ……… That was Tuesday’s journey to St James’ Hospital by the way, writing the blogs has been a doddle!
