Endings, Beginnings and Change.

And so we come to the final post of the year. This will be my eighth final post since I nervously started broadcasting my musings, trials, tribulations and triumphs. 2010 seems a lifetime ago now but it is barely anything in the grander scheme of the world. Time marches and we must march with it.

Looking back it has been a year in which anxiety became my enemy on a more regular basis, my mood held up in the main and I survived what passes for my life. I'm very pleased that for a second year I was not felled by relapse despite what life has thrown at me.

None more so than in recent days since dad has been unwell. I'm used to caring for the mentally ill but caring in another sense is entirely new to me. Did I learn briefly what it is like to be a parent? Not sure I qualify for that as I only did it a short while. However challenging it may have been for me for dad it is the real fight. A few days removed from that terrible night in A&E slowly he is moving forward. Like many of us it is tempting to rush but that must not be done.

Various kind friends have or will be dropping in on him. I managed to drive home yesterday. Given the last few days I'm relieved I booked the extra week off work.

As New Year's Eve falls on a Sunday I feel compelled to roast something. Unusually for me it is a loin of pork. I got to the butcher quite late and that was all they had prepared. Currently in the oven I never tire of the wondrous smell of pork cooking. Gary and Ali will join me. It is tempting to open the champagne in the fridge as it is a celebration. But I don't fancy my chances of making it through tomorrow if I start that early.

I have just booked tickets for Sarah and me to go to Star Wars on Wednesday. I had hoped to go last year but was full of cold and didn't think people would appreciate me coughing and sneezing in the cinema. Not sure what I will do the rest of the week.

Having reflected on what has been, should I muse on what is to come? Change maybe but I'm not sure what. I have been through a lot of change in recent years which at times seems to have made life harder. So can I affect change for the better in 2018? I do hope so.

May I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow.

I Heard a Voice.