Preface
Life is good. I mean, life is really good, really really good. Who’d have thunk it, 15 years ago when I think I was at my lowest point that I would be where I am today. My brain is buzzing and I don’t know where to start. I’ve been sat in the bath, turning into a prune, face pack on (trying to turn back the years) and thinking all these fabulous thoughts about where I’ll begin and how I’ll start. In the end, it boils down to this….. A couple of vodka and tonics and two large glasses of wine and now my brain refuses to switch off. Hence my ramblings now and what I intend to do and how I am going to go forward.
It all started with the QM2. I had promised on a cruise web site that once we set sail on our holiday of a lifetime on the QM2 I would write about my daily travellings, my thoughts and what I was doing. To me, it was a great way of remembering, so I could look back one day and rather than the general amnesia that I suffer from now, I could read and clearly remember what was so special about that holiday and why every moment should be savoured.
While on our cruise, every day I religiously sat on the bed, lap top on my lap (where else?) and wrote. I wrote about everything that occurred, both that which occurred in my head and that which was factual, and the funny thing is I enjoyed sitting down each night and writing it down. Each night I would religiously download my “blog” onto the blog website telling all who cared to read, all about my day and just how wonderful life was on the QM2.
The response was fantastic, never in a million years did I imagine that people would read and enjoy and post some lovely comments on the board and send lovely emails to my personal email address which were so encouraging. When I read the posts the next day I was inspired to continue writing and actually found that I was enjoying it. The posts were a great motivation to me to carry on writing.
Surprisingly, my biggest motivation to carry on writing came from my father in law. Despite our ups and downs we do get on famously [ now ]. At first a guarded relationship, then a tempestuous relationship (we are both very like minded and like our own way and we love to be right) but ultimately our relationship now boils down to a mutual respect tempered by a kinship brought about by life’s ups and downs and the realisation that we are both good people. It kills me to say it, but I admire his intellect, I quite like his argumentative nature, and often we spar (usually over something as simple as a game of cards) but then it comes back to the good natured banter that makes life so interesting.
I have to say also that without my mother in law I’m pretty sure that my relationship with my father in law would have flown the nest long ago. I’m sure some would argue the toss with me here, but I have to say without a doubt, I think I have one of the best mother-in-laws that god created. Stoic, funny, thoughtful and caring. She brings the family together. When everyone else around her is failing to see the good in anything, she is the one that brings everyone together with her good (and sometimes really silly) sense of humour – no-one can fail to bring a wry grin to their face when my mother in law cracks one of her jokes. My mother in law is the rock on which the family is based.
Right, in order to be really silly and protect everyone’s personal lives I’m going to call my father in law Fred and my mother in law, Wilma. From here on in, it will be Fred and Wilma to which I refer to my out-laws.
Anyway. Phone conversation tonight (Friday 24 September 2010) with Fred.
Fred: So Penny, when are you going to download some more on your blog, I miss not having something to read.
Penny: Ha, right, whatever………………. Get a life Fred.
Fred: No seriously, [ said without any exaggeration ] I think you write well and you should carry on.
Penny: Ha, right, whatever……………..
Fred: Penny, you should carry on writing you do write well………….
(OK, memory may be a bit fizzy here as I’ve had the benefit of a few vodkas and a couple of red wines and I do like to think the best of people so I’m giving Fred the benefit of the doubt here)
Penny: Yup OK, I did actually enjoy writing the blog each night, and I enjoyed posting about Hurricane Igor, but now there’s nothing else to write about, I mean, life is so boring at the moment……….. work, bed, work, bed, clean, iron… work, bed……
Fred: Well, how about a travel blog…?
Penny: Funds won’t run to a life of permanent holidaying, alas if only………
Fred: Well, what about just writing a story of your life?
Penny: Boring *yawn*…..
Fred: No seriously, you’ve travelled a lot, Hong Kong, Cayman, Bermuda, America, your honeymoon where you invited us along (that’s another story…………. remind me to relate this to you and how the out-laws came to be on our honeymoon)
Penny: hmmmmm, Fred, you might have a point. I do enjoy sitting down each night and typing up my memoires, although it will involve a lot of alcohol as I find my best musings come about through an alcohol induced daze – it invokes a witty repartee that doesn’t come naturally when sober.
Fred: What have you got to lose, you should do it, and you’ll enjoy it. [cheering in the background from Wilma!]
Penny: OK I’ll think about it, although I think you’re right I would enjoy it, I love to waffle, to put it in print to look back on later when I’m old and senile would be great, and just think, the grand kids would love to know that they come from a complete line of nutters………………….. (would be good to blame it on their blood line rather than just their mother)
Fred: OK, go away and write a plan, start from the beginning and make bullet points of each point of your life and you’ll be surprised at how the memories come flooding back to you.
Penny: OK, yup, sounds good……………………..
After much chit chat on the phone we hung up and I went for a soak in the bath.
Bloody Hell!! Since that call, my mind hasn’t stopped buzzing.
I’m like......., so enthused, Yes, I can do this, I’m good, It won’t suit everyone’s tastes but if our grandchildren can look back, read this and realize that their nana wasn’t a senile old bat sitting in her rocking chair but actually had a life, how cool would that be?
How cool would it be if I could read about my nana’s life and her thoughts and deeds, I would realize that she wasn’t just an old woman who I loved but someone with an adventurous life, going from World War I, World War II and thereafter, including the 50’s, 60’s 70’s and onwards till her death five years ago. My Nan had a fab saying “You younguns, you think you invented sex!” She’s so right. Life didn’t begin when I hit 17, nor did it start when our daughters hit 17, none of us invented youth, it’s been there since life began. Yes, even the 80 and 90 year old people you see on the street, they were once professionals who fell in love for the first time, had their ups and downs, argued with their parents, saw friends come and go, relationships start and finish and their parents and friends/acquaintances pass on. The realisation is this. None of us lives forever. It is up to us to pass on our knowledge and history. Who knows, perhaps in 1000 years time, I could be as famous as Tutankhamen (except he had to rely on others [ slaves of which I have none ] to write his history).
I have to conclude, I could go one but I fear that none of us would have the will to live if this goes on much longer.
Conclusion
Life is good. I mean, life is really good, really really good.
I have vowed now to write a chapter as and when the mood takes. I can’t promise to write every night, but I am inspired (thanks Fred and Wilma). In concluding I must also thank the person that makes me most happiest in life and without whom I wouldn’t be where I am today, nor would I be in the frame of mind that I am tonight to write this……….
I dedicate this blog going forward to my stalwart. Thank god he inherited Wilmas beautiful personality and Fred’s ability to do business. Without Fred and Wilma he wouldn’t be here today. He is of course their son – Bam Bam.
Bam Bam is my rock. I have been married to him for 10 years and they have been, so far, the best 10 years of my life with any one man.
On that note and after having introduced you to some of the players in my life, I will conclude by saying that, whether or not you enjoy my musings, it has been cathartic to start writing. (rather continue writing).
I’ll be back………………..
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