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Well, the rain is pouring down
outside and it reminds me of the line from the poem I learnt in Prep (Reception to those of you who didn’t go to school aeons ago in SA) – “the daffodils dance in the sun and the rain”… Yesterday, I glanced out of the kitchen window and noticed that my daffodils are starting to flower. I ventured outside and saw the yellow heads appearing across the hillside, poking up in clumps through the grass below the house where a tiny James and I planted bulbs so many years ago.
Daffodils have a very special place in my family story and in my heart. My Dad lived for his family and his garden (not sure it was always in that order). He grew vegetables because that’s what you were supposed to do but he loved to grow flowers. As the daffs came out around the time of my sister, Lori’s birthday, they were always considered to be her flower. This had an added poignancy given that they later became the symbol of the Cancer Council. Lori has seemed like a shadow following me this year as I travel in her long ago footsteps, sitting in the same hospitals and waiting for the same results. Seeing the daffodils is both a joy and a sorrow, and I must admit to shedding some tears.
My birthday flowers were violets but unfortunately this year, my violets became quite lost in the weeds that have taken over the garden.
Yesterday must have been the day for polar emotions because I laughed out loud at the hospital when I was waiting for the lift. Luckily, no-one was there at the time. Usually, after my radiation appointment, if I have to wait for the lift, I’m either helping someone with directions or I just vague out. Well, yesterday I actually looked around me and studied the sketched murals on the walls. One of the most noticeable elements in the main mural was a hair clipper and I thought how appropriate that was given that it was outside of the radiation oncology area. Then I noticed the other parts of the pictures – cattle dog, motorbike, barbed wire, etc. and I realised that it wasn’t a hair clipper at all but was sheep shears! I had to laugh! I realise that it is just carrying on the themes of SA that they have in the hospital (the ceilings of the radiation rooms have beautiful outback and gumtree scenes) but I think they could have thought that one through a bit better.
As for radiation, I’m almost halfway through and going okay. My skin is getting a bit itchy in one place but hopefully that will settle down before I go back on Monday.