I think I might have cracked it. Not in a bad, going-to-need-to-replace-it kind of way, in an it’s-about-time-you-silly-arse kind of way.
First of all, big Happy New Year to one and all – hope you had a good night’s celebrations and woke up later on the 1st without too much of a fuzzy head and swirly stomach. Being the paragon of virtue that I am, I was enjoyable tee-total (or is that tea-total) all night and felt super when I woke up. So bleh to you! (I don’t know how you spell the noise you make when you stick your tongue out at someone…)
But most excitingly, I’ve managed to get through all of the weekend’s festivities and back into normal life with no kind of a chest-related hangover whatsoever – how brilliant is that?
Not only did I save up enough energy on the 31st to have a really good night with S&S and the big C at the Lodge, but I lasted the course of a day with my Godson and family yesterday too.
Sunday night was great fun – just the 5 of us chilling out, chatting, laughing and watching the Hootenanny on the telly. I love the Hootenanny, mostly just because it has a totally brilliant name. Hootenanny has to be one of the best words in the whole language. And it is totally fitting for some kind of party!
Come midnight we all hugged and danced (some more energetically than others) and decided we were knackered and ran away to bed.
Monday was another cracking day of fun and frolics with my Godson, his Mum and Dad and bro. We played Uno and I lost by a lot, we played Game of Life and I lost by a little less, then after our second meal of the day – don’t you just love those days when you have a huge roast dinner and then come back later in the afternoon to finish off the leftovers and clear out the fridge with some lovely crusty bread and pickles and cheese and other wonderful delights? – we played Game of Life again and I won. I didn’t mean to, I sort of did it by accident.
The whole thing was interspersed with an hour’s break in the middle when the two Dad’s took the young’uns off for a walk around the lake and I laid on the bed with Neve strapped on resting myself up for the 2ns half of the day. It worked brilliantly – just as I was beginning to flag, my mini-break, semi-nap set me up for the rest of the day perfectly.
The best part of the whole weekend, though, without a doubt (aside from all the great bits) was waking up this morning feel fresh, energised and ready to tackle the day. Not a single sentence of moany-ness from my chest and not a moment of complaint throughout the day.
I’m so happy it’s really rather silly and I’m aware of how fragile it all can be, but I can’t think of a better way to start the New Year than to realise that I’ve worked out the limits of my ever-changing body.
I know I tend to push myself too hard and usually too fast, but it’s fantastic to know where I can push myself to and to be able to recognise when I need to stop, take a breath or three and stop myself being silly.
Those of you who’ve been with me from the start will know that this whole escapade began with me searching for an understanding of the boundaries that were newly rearranged around my ever-more-protesting blowers, and to finally find something of an answer, or at least a vague level of comprehension, feels wonderful.
So now it’s time to turn my attention to more long-term and practical goals, and see what I can’t achieve with my year before Harefield get on the phone to offer me my part-exchange.
Anyone got anything they need me to do that involves sitting at a desk and preferably being creative, you know where to find me.
For now, I’m off to get my 10 hours sleep to make sure tomorrow goes just as well.
Happy New Year everyone, bring on the next challenge!