After a long day driving around 7 surgeries then coming home to finish off my work day, it was the toughest test so far to pour a glass of fizzy water and proceed to cook tea, I did though!
Once that hurdle is navigated its fine, the rest of the night’s a doddle
Days Sobee 11
She’s my daughter and that alone fills me with pride and joy, just to tell people that fact. From the moment I met her I fell in love with her and that is still the case, I try to be a good dad to her but sometimes she can be so frustrating.
She’s mommy’s girl although they clash 10+ times a day Jamie would do anything and everything to make Reagan’s life a little bit better and prepare her life and I think my protective nature towards Jamie is my main reason for clashing with Reagan I just can’t stand her being ungrateful for all her mom does for her.
Reagans light comes on when she is riding horses
Horse Riding is something I didn’t think she’d take to, if I am honest, not because she wouldn’t enjoy it but possibly through lack of confidence. I know she can do anything she wants to do in life but maybe she doesn’t realise that at times? Mommy took her horse riding 3 years ago and she’s stuck at it and has become pretty good and loves showing us what she can do like trotting, cantering and her favourite JUMPING
Another thing that floats her boat is afternoon tea, she loves that whole spectacle and it makes her feel so grown up
She seems very popular at school and socially and is growing into a special human being who would do anything for anyone….so long as that anyone is not me lol
Theres so much more to her and I look forward to blogging about her again
There was a time when my weekend started by going out Friday night getting drunk and carried on until Sunday ‘enjoying’ myself to excess without a thought for the future!
Here’s how a weekend pans out nowadays, as soon as I finish work its time to take Lincoln to cricket 6 till 8 followed by tea and a bit of telly and bed because Jamie has to be up early.
Saturday Jamie gets up early to travel down to London leaving me in bed for a cheeky little lie in. The kids get themselves up nowadays so there’s no stress to make sure they’re ok I can hear them get up and move about and if they need me they know they can come and get me. Then leaving the kids playing on their electronics and after sorting the washing out and getting school uniforms in first and cleaning the kitchen I go and take Billy for a walk. At a loose end for half an hour I painted the door of the Offshed because I’d noticed it looked like it needed it.
Gymnastics next and while Lincoln got a sweat on Reagan and I sat and had a coffee, afterwards we went to buy some food for Billy in Wheelock and then went to Morrisons for some food for me and the kids. We ate at home and then I took them both down to the park, telling them that they had to be back by 4 because at 4:30 I had to take Reagan to her sleep over. All this was interspersed with moving the washing through making sure everything that could be put in the drier was separated and the rest carefully hung on the maid.
Come 4:30 Lincoln and me went to drop Reagan at her mates for the sleepover and we went on to the highlight of the weekend Jake’s 70th birthday party at The Bottle Bank in Holmes Chapel. Now let me tell you, up until arriving Lincoln had hopes that it would be an actual party but those hopes were very quickly dashed, now his only hope was that his phone didn’t die but when it did die he then kept asking me what time are we going….50+ times. We had a lads night afterwards which made up for it Hot Dogs and a Burger from U7 Street Food and watched Guardians of the Galaxy That made him happy.
Jamie arrived home after an eventful car parking incident at Crewe Station?
Sunday after taking Billy for a walk I spent the day in the garden painting the Shoffice mowing the lawn and generally pottering (I love pottering). A bit more washing and putting clothes away while Jamie and the children went to church and then out for a carvery.
By the time I sat down to watch the new series of I’m a celebrity I think I’d achieved a lot but also I thought would my 18 year old self recognise me?
Days sober 10
Definition: Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, central London, which has been noted since the 19th century for its large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Thomas Harley who was Lord Mayor of London in 1767. [From Wiki]
I have been back blogging 8 days and I have not mentioned Harley Street? Since deciding to go back to school as a mom of 2 in 2012 Jamie has not only graduated but she has also qualified as a counsellor and found infertility counselling as her niche. She has setup her own business and made it so much of a success that the infertility counselling governing body BICA noticed her and asked he to be on the exec committee as membership secretary This put her further into the spotlight in the infertility sector and the CEO of a leading Harley Street clinic head hunted her to work for them. After some soul searching over allowing her business Akeso Counselling to take a backseat and become an employee again, eventually she accepted the lead counselling position at London Women’s Clinic and is about to embark on the next stage of her meteoric career.
So, as an American “London” is where they all think of when they think of England even though Middlewich is closer to the centre “middle” of England tut? So to visit London was maybe a dream come true for Jamie but could she ever have dreamt she would not only work in London but work in one of the world renowned streets synonymous with private medicine.
Having been contracting for the clinic for last few months as Akeso, she will start work for them in January, primarily working from home from the “Shoffice” (more of that in a future blogs) she will be required to go to London a couple of times a month to work and to talk to clients at seminars so she has been going down to oversee seminars ready to take over them herself.
She’s living the dream and I am so proud of her!
Harley Street Overview:
Since the 19th century, the number of doctors, hospitals, and medical organisations in and around Harley Street has greatly increased. Records show that there were around 20 doctors in 1860, 80 by 1900, and almost 200 by 1914. When the National Health Service was established in 1948, there were around 1,500. Today, there are more than 3,000 people employed in the Harley Street area, in clinics, medical and paramedical practices, and hospitals such as Dr. Gabriela Clinic, The Harley Street Clinic, Hifu Skin Clinic, Medical Express Clinic, Harly Medical Foot and Nail Clinic, Harley Street Fertility Clinic, Sonoworld Diagnostic Services, The London Women’s Clinic and The London Clinic, Harley Street Life Coaching.
It has been speculated that doctors were originally attracted to the area by the development of commodious housing and central proximity to the important railway stations of Paddington, King’s Cross, St Pancras, Euston and, later, Marylebone. The nearest Tube stations are Regent’s Park, Great Portland Street and Oxford Circus. Harley Street has also been featured in many films and television programmes. [From Wiki]
I watched Lincoln at gymnastics last week and was amazed how supple he was, even after 12 months out he stood with his back to the wall leant back put his hands on it and walked them down to the floor into crab as if he hadn’t been away?
This week it was:
Warm up stretches
Floor: forward and backwards roll into stand, handstand
Low Beam: jump crouch turn to face opposite direction
1m Beam: Walk jump along beam and dismount
Springboard: On to 0.5m block to stand and handstand dismount to mat
Floor: Handstands and hold against soft wall
Warm down stretches
As I watched I thought they would have to call me an ambulance, halfway through me attempting the warm up stretches! I would either be experiencing severe chest pains or would require a body board to avoid further spinal injuries. Lincoln just glides through all the exercises barely breaking sweat (well he does sweat a bit, it’s a Miller thing apparently) and another thing I notice was while he’s gliding he is making friends with all his fellow gymnasts? Yet again I am thinking if I had actually been able to manage to walk into that gym as a 10 year old I wouldn’t have been able to talk to anyone for weeks until I had assessed everyone thoroughly but not Lincoln he is so sociable and likeable, he gets that from his mom.
I just love the fact that he is who he is and enjoys himself in everything he does!
…or delete their social media history before picking the stone up.
There is a huge amount of “famous” people being taken to task in the media because of historic texts that contain subject matter that offends someone in the world even though the person was a teenager or slightly older and is now late 20s plus and probably a totally different person than back then.
Let me just say I am not condoning any of the “misdemeanours” anyone committed whenever it was but I also think people and times change what was accepted in the 70’s, though not right even then was not a crime nor was it frowned upon but today 40 years later we look back with open mouths at what was deemed OK back then and it got me thinking about my 51 years on this earth and what kind of person I am now, I am by no means perfect but I am definitely a better person today than I have ever been because of experience & knowledge & because of the mistakes I have made over the years. The thing is if you took all the mistakes I have made and all the bad things I have done and said then laid them all side by side without context or not mentioning who had done them everyone would think I was the worst human being ever to draw breathe!
That is what they are doing to these people in the media and it’s where social media is so bad because without context a post from your ancient history splashed across the news can ruin your career and once that paper or news cast has finished they’re onto root out the next historic tweet or post to force someone else to publicly grovel for forgiveness
I just think the people calling these people out should look at their selves and hope no-one delves into their backgrounds just incase?
Days Sober 7
When I was at my lowest and struggling to find my place in the world after losing my first wife, suddenly, everything seemed so hard with people telling me “Life must go on” yet it was hard living on my own it was just not something I ever contemplated or wanted!
My mood had a been yoyoing at best, and spiralling at worst, but I got up one morning went to flick the kettle on and it blew and it I just thought if white goods are against me as well I can’t cope and just burst into tears it was a new low but it had been building for weeks. I sat there crying and just then me Dad & Liz walked and were obviously concerned about the state I was in and asked what was wrong, when I told them about the kettle, my dad said we can get you a new kettle can’t we Liz.
I just thought: It’s not about the kettle!
I always remember that moment but nothing after it or at what point during 2007 it happened. I smile about it now because it’s funny but at the time I just wanted a brew!
It will be the title of my autobiography when I write it.
Days sober 6
I just looked at the first 4 ‘new’ posts and I want to change the focus from why I started blogging again to what floats my boat now and think it might be interesting is look back on older post and dissect what has changed and how we have changed as people and as a family. I love putting my thoughts down in my blog but since 28 March 2010 things have changed my focus has changed I am not turning 40 or about to become a father for the first time, I am now 51 years old married with 2 children. I am somebody who has tried his best to support my family over the last 11 and a half years, anyway I can.
I have tried my best to make them happy, even if it has not always been easy, being a parent can be a lot of effort for, at times, not a lot of rewards but that is only if you fail to see the long game, the big reward is seeing the kind of people you have raised….but sometimes others have to point that out before you see it.
Marriage is different, being married to Jamie is the easy bit, we just seem to work as a couple as team as friends you name it? I live with best friend a person who I love spending time with and would do anything for, I couldn’t ask for a better mom for our children and I hope that she knows how much I appreciate her being there for me too. She has become a successful business woman after achieving her ambition of graduating and makes me proud every single day just by being herself.
I intend to blog about Jamie, Reagan and Lincoln as well as myself and try to fill in the huge gaps that not blogging for three years has left and tell our story daily if I can like I used to.
Another little project I have started is “75 questions you need to ask your parents before they die” (not because I am about to die far from it, I am just trying to answer them now to get them documented and maybe see how my answers change over the years?
Anyway for now I am really enjoying blogging and especially making this website look and perform how I want it to, I love web design and working out how to make work as mush as filling it with content.
Days Sober 5
Since I was 17 years old I have drank, on a regular basis, sometimes in moderation and sometimes not so 34 years of drinking and now I have decided to stop for one year…
I did ‘Dry January’ once and it was very tough not because I needed a drink but to stop the festivities at midnight 31st December and not take another sip for the whole month of January just because it will “do you good” By the First of February I was gagging for a drink and probably over did for days because it was a novelty. I have also stopped for a week here and a week there just for a rest but alcohol for the main has been part of my whole adult life.
So to ask myself to spend a year bereft of the thing that has accompanied my life for most of it, is daunting as well as frightening because I can not see myself succeeding yet.
Days Sober 4
Not saying its been an easy 3 days but it’s only been 3 days, I can still remember Friday nights feeling of drunkeness and the great time we had!
I am having regular thoughts of “triggers” moment that will be difficult to negotiate, last night I was watching football Jamie had gone to bed and the game was bad and I had a sudden craving for food which I thought nothing of but when I arrived at the fridge and opened it I was overwhelmed with the ease I could have just cracked a cider without a care and begun drinking it…? I didn’t but it was what I would normally have done to supress the disapointment \ relax me whatever reason it was a moment!
This was not a forseen obstacle this was a sudden event that I must be aware of, the obstacles I am seeing are things like 4th December walking in the Lakes with me mates this is going to be a tough one unless I tell them what I am doing I acn drive which always helps but lets face it nowadays we are not going for a long walk and a short drink we are an aging drinking society with a walking problem. Even closer Thanksgiving a big trigger but I believe I can prepare, which hopefully will allow me to enjoy it without alcohol but again I may have to admit what I am doing and why.
Last night I saw that The Hold Steady were playing in London in March and immediately thought that would be great to go down there and watch them but then realised I would have to go there and not drink. What do you do down London if you don’t drink whats the point, this says a lot of how I view enjoying anything and my association with alcohol and just how intertwined these two things are in my mind.
Pool nights are easier to think about because I can drive and that flicks a switch in my head “never drink and drive” and I never have, my problem would always be the next morning when I may have been still over the limit but I have never drank before driving so pool won’t be a problem being in a pub around drinkers or mates drinking.
I know there are going to be many obstacles but I can’t look too far ahead at the moment it has to be one day at a time and if necessary one hour at a time at high trigger points.
I know I can do this but what if I fail?
Days Sober 3