Oh gosh, the magnificent flowers keep coming, making me feel very loved and cared for. This morning gorgeous neighbour Katie arrived with these pretty pink lilies which I hope to be able to grow, though knowing my lack of green thumbs, I'm not sure how successful I will be. This afternoon another stunning bunch arrived from my School at UNSW, reminding me of the generosity and thoughtfulness of my colleagues.
The flowers couldn't have been better timed to cheer me up. Throughout all these months of being largely in isolation I've managed not to feel too disappointed about missing fun times and celebrations out in the big wide world, but today is different. Today I've missed out on two important events. The first was a ceremony at UNSW to award an honorary doctorate to good friend, Jennifer Westacott, for her important contributions to policy in the areas of business, social housing and mental health. I fully expected to be on track to attend the ceremony, and to celebrate Jennifer's significant achievements, but frustratingly had to decline given the surgery. I was happy Deb sent me this photo of her with our fabulous colleague Jan Breckenridge who donned their robes to attend the conferral of Jennifer's doctorate. It sounds like Jennifer gave a terrific address to the graduates.
Also scratched off my calendar was a dinner at a local restaurant to celebrate darling Katie's 50th birthday with friends from the Erko community. Robbie baked a cake this morning to have with our morning tea with Katie, which was a nice substitute, but I'm still very disappointed not to be able to go and join the fun for my dear friend who has kept such a close eye on me over the past months.
Today to help me feel better I'm wearing Mum's gold bracelet, which she gave me just before she died. This is very special to me as we bought it together on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence on at trip she and I took to Italy in 1992. She wore it often, and makes me feel very close to her.
This photo of Mum perusing the gold shops on the Ponte was taken when we were back in Florence together in 2011, but was very close to where we bought the bracelet. She bought gold earrings this time, which she gave to our darling Lucy when she ill.I'm still feeling very happy to be home. Last night I was very restless trying to get settled; the discomfort with this surgery comes from the pec muscle spasms which are worse when laying down, but once you're down, no matter how many pillows, it's a struggle to get up again! I'm taking some anti-spasm medication, used for epilepsy apparently, which is taking the edge off. I'm also still on very strong antibiotics which are making me queasy. Just one more day to go on these, thank goodness.
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