Month: November 2024
Where am I?
I am ninety. So I know that my time is very limited. But that does not matter for as long as I feel happy about being alive and maybe can also still do a little bit of writing. I very nuch care about relationships. To devote a great amount of my time to respond to what people say is important to me. Without significant relationships I am nothing. I have to say that relationships that I did have in the past do count a lot too, and I want to be able to tell about them and write about them. However I feel I should not forget to write about present relationships too!
So, where am I at this stage? Can I prioritize and devote myself to the things that are the most important to me? How can I still make the most with the time that is left to me? Even though I cannot know exactly how much time I may still be given, I can still try to make the most of every day that I still feel alive enough to be doing something at all. To be able to do something is such a blessing!
What about loneliness? It is said the feeling of loneliness can be a killer as much as any sickness. For most people it seems to be important that they have someone to hug and to kiss. How can hugging and kissing be so important? But it is. Instead of generalising I want to tell here something about myself. I think for most of my life I was more an introvert than an extrovert. Has aging changed me in some ways? Maybe yes. In my old age I find it usually not very difficult to be somewhat outgoing in communicating with people who in the past perhaps would have been very much out of reach for me. Also I find now often some increased desire to hug and kiss people.
Looking back at my longtime marriage, I think it lasted fot that long because we always had some kind of love and respect for each other. Now that I have a ‘boyfriend’ who is nearly as old as I am, we too love and respect each other. He too comes from a very long lasting marriage. It seems to me he has sometimes difficulty treating me just as a girlfriend. I like him very much, but I like him as a girlfriend, not as a wife . . . .
So, where am I? I am happy that Les and I have found each other. We have lots of fun together. Les has a wonderful sense of humour. He often makes me laugh. And he likes me to laugh a lot! 😂
We could not go on that Cruise
Our landline phone was out of order
Peter took this picture on the morning of Sunday, the 7th of September 2014. This was Fathers Day in Australia. There were blue irises as well as a bottle of Peter’s favourite port-wine. The cake made with ground almonds was for the afternoon. Monika arrived in the afternoon with sons and daughters as well as two year old grandson Lucas. Monika brought gifts along for her Papa: A lovely bottle of wine, chocolates, scratchies and a card.
Son Martin rang from Melbourne at night-time. This call was diverted to our interim mobile phone that Telstra had sent us to use while our landline phone was out of order. This mobile phone had no ringing sound. Instead a computerised female voice always announced to us when we had a phone call.
Caroline and Matthew had been going away for a few days to attend the wedding of their friends. They are back now and we are going to see them on Sunday. They probably made a lot of pictures and are going to tell us a lot about their trip.
Peter thought he had a lovely Fathers Day last Sunday. We are looking forward to seeing Caroline and Matthew very soon.
A missed Cruise, but still some beautiful Birthday Celebrations
Nearly two months ago was my 90th birthday. It was not celebrated the way it had been planned. Come to think of it, the changes were not all that bad. I tell myself, I am still a lucky person. I am grateful for being alive and able to enjoy life a lot. Here is what I published before:
All this about September 2024 I published one month ago in October. Here is a reply to that post from dear Linda (Rangewriter) and my reply to it:
- rangewriter What a bitter disappointment.
auntyuta Yes, Linda, It took hours and hours before it was esablished that Monika could not receive her new passport soon enough for us to be able to board the ship before its departure. Finally, we had to find a way back home at our own cost. What a horrible day! However, my sweet daughter Caroline drove me all the way home to Dapto late in the afternoon. When she heard of our plight that we were not allowed to board the ship, she left her work early and retrieved her car to where it was parked in Sydney to take me home to Dapto. We had a bit to eat at my place and at about 10pm Caroline drove back to her place in Sydney.
https://auntyuta.com/2024/10/13/remembering-september-2024-continued/
As you know, on Wednesday, September 18th, the ship left without us. My daughter Caroline drove me back home on that day.
Three days later was Friday, and this was my 90th birthday. On that day I had a good time staying overnight in a nearby hotel with my friend Les. Naturally we spent the following weekend together too.
Thursday September 27 was the day that the Carneval returned to Sydney, and our luggage was there to be collected. I had borrowed from Les a big suittcase for the cruise! The suitcase had done the trip to Vanuatu and back without me. My family picked it up for me and I was happy that I got it returned in a good condition.
On the following Sunday, the 30th of September, we had as planned a family gathering to celebrate my turning ninety as well as great-grandson Alexander turning ten on the 27th of September just a few days after my birthday!
We had a nice birthday lunch as well as afternoon cafe and birthday cake at the neraby German Club. About ten people were present, including the birthday boy of course. Unfortunately some people could not join us on that day because of illness.
I feel sorry for Monika and Natasha that they had to miss out on a cruise that had cost them so much money. All that money is lost now. But they still hope eventuallyto be able to go onto another cruise. I made up my mind now: I do not want to book another cruise again. I prefer to stay close to my home.
AuntyUta 