Finding Joy in Every Step
I’m so proud of my people. This week I took mum (79) dad (91 and very unsteady on his feet) and Martha (20 with learning disability) on a 4-night break to Wales.
Now, all my best childhood memories are in Wales in the sunshine, even though most of the childhood holiday days spent in Wales would have undoubtedly been in the rain. We look for the positives, don’t we? And this week I struck Welsh gold because it’s been 50 million degrees, no clouds in the sky and we’ve had a cottage that came with full use of the neighbouring hotel pool.
Strangers look when we go to a swimming pool – not usually because they’re unkind – but because, I mean, I’d have a good look at us lot. We’re quite a sight. Me with my ridiculous fake tan on top of leukaemia-white-legs that are still bruised from surgery (and yes, I had a posh fake gradual tan – I still look ludicrous), Martha and her terror of swimming pool steps, learning disability, poor social cues and quite a lot of flapping, and dad being 91 and needing 2 sticks to get to the edge of the pool.
So I have to fake-it-'til-I-make-it and decide that I’m the most confident person in the world and walk to the pool giving zero shits about my Tizer/Irn Bru orange legs – actually no, in the spirit of fake confidence let’s go more exotic… my Aperol Spritz legs, and get in first so I can rescue my dad or child when they potentially fall in afterwards.
“Dad you need to get in backwards!”
His feet were so big he couldn’t get beyond the first step. He really tried. I was so proud.
A post-exams 16-year-old lad smirked from one of the loungers. I could have argued, I have the skills. I chose not to. Instead, I told my dad I was dead proud of him and I thought about my 15-year-old boy back at home in school and I was dead proud of him in that moment too because I knew he’d never have laughed at an ancient man sticking two fingers up to old age and disability and giving it a bloody good go.
My daughter tried too. She’s always worried about steps in pools. She has poor spatial awareness and couldn’t do it, and despite her best efforts decided to sit under a tree instead, headphones on and Nintendo Switch at the ready. She brought grandpa his sticks back though so he could get back to his lounger from his failed launch.
My mum, post last year’s hip surgery, loved it. Despite the cold of the water aggravating her other hip, she loved the coolness against the heat of the day.
The pool guy loved us and was trying to think out of the box for solutions, the man on the sun lounger next to us offered to help dad, a random woman in the pool said “he gave it a jolly good go didn’t he?” Honestly, sometimes people are just bloody lovely, aren’t they?
That’s it. That’s what I wanted to tell you. I’m proud of effort and chutzpah and giving things a go, and I told dad that next time I’d bring a trebuchet and we’d fire him into the pool from the safety of the grass, thus avoiding the stupid steps. Stupid steps. Proud.
The Summer Sale’s on. All discounts are live on the website now. You know the drill.
Have a fab week all!
XX Deb
