Waaa. May already!

I am apparently all happy and upbeat after the Royal Wedding (or more likely after having 2 4 day weeks - yaay, let’s do this every week). I am taking my cue from 'When Life Gives You Lemons' and being more bouncy and positive, which is what I am normally like but sometimes things get a bit on top of me.
So, reasons to be cheerful...........

My husband suffers from depression which means he sometimes makes odd judgement calls, shuts himself away in sleep world when he can’t cope and could be grumpy but this last year or so he finally started to get a handle on it and life is very good. He periodically apologies for how awful he has been in the past. I can’t blame him anyway as it is an illness but I think he must think he was worse than he was. Bless his little cotton socks.

My eldest son has a job which he enjoys. It’s not really his thing long term but it pays some money and gives him time to study for the three year IT design course which he has also signed up for. He has a very nice girlfriend that he is bonkers about. Oh yes, and he is handsome too. He thought he had the same problem as my husband and was delighted to find that when he doesn’t work at a miserable and unpleasant job with an undated dictatorial boss from the 70s, for 12 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, then he is happy little soul.

My youngest son is coming to the end of his two year college course. He knows what he wants to do with his life and is applying for Deck traineeships in the merchant Navy. This week he got his RYA Powerboating level 2. That means that he also passed his maritime studies with distinction, as this was the final module. Pretty sure Jamal’s life with be at sea. Jamal is handsome too (I am their mother, what do you expect me to think!). He is a little stockier and a little darker than his brother but very similar. Jamal takes after his Mum more and there is no black dog waiting to jump onto his shoulders. He is completely self-confident and utterly un-destructible psychologically.

I am 22ibs lighter than I was a few months back and happy to keep on losing it. I feel younger as I get older. My job is mostly good fun and I can cope with the 11 years still needed to get an acceptable pension, but probably not the 16 years required to get a very good pension. Acceptable should be enough as I don't spend very much except for my enormous mortgage which will be all gone by then. I overpay my mortgage every month to shorten its lifespan by seven years. If we ever have pay rises again I will add more to the mortgage payments and we will hit the finish tape a little earlier.

My parents are in their 80s but still fit and well, happy and active. They are still in good enough health to come on holiday to Crete with us every year. I wish I could have afforded the Crete house ten years earlier; my dad would have really enjoyed it when he was younger. They were the oldest people on the Easyjet flight to Heraklion for the last two years. They are thoroughly spoilt in Crete. I have lost them in the market and found then seated with a stall-holder enjoying a beer and some chopped cucumber and tomatoes whilst they get to hear, if not to understand, about the sad value of veg at the moment.

I worry (low level worry) about value of assets etc (especially property in Syria)but how lucky am I to have a few assets to worry about. I like my house, although it would be nice if it was finished and everyone would stop wrecking the garden whenever there is a project which required outdoor work, and the area that I live in. I like life to be interesting and generally it is. I would like to travel more & I have plans to as I get older. Life is good and life is fun and sometimes it sucks a bit but not much and not for long. I love life and I love and appreciate my friends and family. Good eh?