This is when it's tough

You probably think I am going to say it's tough doing the renovating, but nothing as simple. I can do things about that, but there are some things that are really difficult to deal with when I am here. There are two things so far this week, both completely different but hurt in the same way really. Firstly my eldest daughter called to say that she had been in the hospital for the night with my beautiful grandson who had a really bad bout of croup and at 1.30am was having great difficulty in breathing so she had to take him to A & E. He was treated and is now OK and at home, but oh how it hurts not being there to give him a cuddle. The silly thing is, if we were still living in Henley, we wouldn't be there to give him a cuddle anyway and I know he is fine now, but............

The second thing is my youngest daughter is learning to sew and knit as I have said before and she emailed me a photo of her first square of knitting. It is brilliant and I just want to be there to touch and feel it and see her enjoying "making things" like I have done for quite a few years now. We could do things together and have fun, but now, not until the holidays. Having said that, she does work, so realistically, I couldn't be there for a lot of the time anyway. I suppose it is a challenge not being "there on the spot" like I have been before, but it is good that they call me and let me know what is happening and keeping me involved in all the events whether good or bad. I love them very much and miss them, that is the tough bit, but I certainly don't feel like this every day, this was just a hiccup, we are going to have them.

As I said, that is the "tough" bit, the easy bit is being outside this afternoon in the garden, in our t-shirts enjoying our dream, albeit working hard, still stacking all this wretched wood - nearly there! After all, we have to get this place up and running so I can have all my family over to visit this year, then I can cuddle all my grandchildren as much as I like and see them running around in the huge garden, picking figs, peaches, apples and pears, and I can knit and sew with Clare for as long as she wants me to. Now that is what I call perfect.