Diary of wifes hospital stay - holding it together for our family

The main motivation for the course @soul is to have something to do while I cant work and somthing to show for my time away from work. Not diminishing from my caring role, just feelng inadequate ... ... and using the time to do something measureable and that hopflly may benift our family long term. (Does that make sense?)

Boys would love to play sports @soul but unfortunately we as parents dont have the capacity arrange it and keep up with the weekly schedule. Sounds like a cop out and I feel like a negligent parent for depriving them but just dont have the motivation or energy.

That makes a lot of sense. I have this huge gap from the time I was caring for my parents to now. I went from full time work to part time, used up my long service leave and sick leave and eventually quit as they became more fragile and sick.

I am looking at doing some study. My employment was in education. Not sure if is something I want to jump back into that here these days. I have paid for a teaching English course so that may open a few doors for me. I haven't commenced it yet. It's an online one. Will be sufficient as I have the practical experience of teaching anyway. Have thought about going overseas and doing a stint there.

Sport does take a lot of commitment. My kids played both at school and club level so I was chauffeuring them all over the place every weekend. I loved it. I'm actually going to watch my son play football (round ball that is) tomorrow night. Just not allowed to jump up and down anymore - to embarrassing for him.

I take it that you aren't in a big town. Are there rivers or creeks S1 and 2 like to explore? Or isn't it that rural?

I had over 6 months sick leave when i quit my job. Was too proud and stupid take it even though the dr would have signed off on it. Just quit and walked away. Wanted and needed to be free from the place I was working as it was consuming me.

So this study you are doing would lead you into a different field?

We are classed as a regional city. Populatn of around 20 k last time I checked, around 50k including sourronds. There is a river through the middle and some rock pools just out of town. Beach is about an hour away.

We have a boat but it hasnt been in the water for ovsr 6 months, its about an hour to the boat ramp, choice of 4 very diffrent locations all around an hour drive so diverse for things to do, but again by the weekend we struģgle toget out. I know I need to make more of an effort. One of the reasons for cutting back on study load, so i have a little more left over (energy and motivatiom) for the family.

It is all about making the effort and when you do, it will be worthwhile and you'll wonder why you didn't do it more often. Just the thought tends to sap your energy. It's like going to the gym or waking up early to go walking. You dread doing it but once you're up and at it, you feel so much better for it.

Last time we took the boat out I stupidly ran out of fuel, I will be doing well to get my darling back out in it as it was quite trumatic for her. We were only in the river and my brother was able to bring us a can, close enough shore to swim the boat across but was not a good experience.

Maybe you can devote a few hours this weekend to taking a little trip with your lads.