From one furball to another.....

Living, not existing.

It sounds odd but it can be a really hard thing to do, to live your life. So many people, including myself, have a routine and just get on with it and then at the significant moments like birthdays and celebrations realise it's been a year since the last one. There is a perception that there isn't time to feel the rain on your face or smell the autumn leaves or just to stop and tell someone how much they mean to you.

I've had a massive kick up the arse which has snapped me out of that routine. It sounds really cheesey to say that everyday is cherished but in a way it is. I have had my life measured, it became a finite object with a start point and an end. It was always that way, death and taxes are the only guaranteed events in our lives, but how close the end is was under debate for a while.

I guess that brush with mortality focus's the mind and gives a certain clarity about what is important to you. To me it's about being a damn good dad and as good a husband as possible, no I'll never be tidy but I try....... So to that end I have been talking to school about my return and going back 4 days a week. I love teaching and it gives me a real buzz when little Johnny says "I get it now sir". That to me is better than a fat bonus at the end of the year, yes I'm bonkers but that's me.

So now as part of living my life I need to get back to work, my fitness is coming as is my stamina. I'll return on a phased return doing a bit at a time and making sure it doesn't wipe me out but also making sure I get my lessons to the standard I know I'm capable of. It excites me and fills me with dread at the same time but the excitement far outweighs the dread.

On the list of life things to do I can start preparing to tick off going back to work. I can also tick off something Wendy and I have thought about for ages, getting a dog. It's been an unbelievable number of conversations and umming and arring but we've decided on a blue and tan border terrier pup, going by the name of Bertie. Hopefully this furball will give us less trouble than the last one!

Bertie.......yes he's well cute!