This Christmas was some sort of cosmic revenge I think. For all the times I woke my parents early as a child, Alex decided to wake us all up at 4:30am. I had had less than 3 hours sleep by this point so ended up taking a nap later that morning. Santa's load was a bit smaller than usual due to financial doom and gloom, but the kids were still happy with everything they got. We had Christmas dinner at my sisters this year and it was delicious... I think that's the most I've eaten since before my surgery, with 11 goose fat roasted potatoes, a small truckload of pigs in blankets and roasted parsnips and carrots. Being the absolute party animals that we are, we ended up leaving early and were all in bed before 10pm. The tree was taken down today because I was fed up of the cat climbing it and knocking down all the branches and decorations. Did I mention the cat in the last entry? We got her in April, and she'll turn 1 in February. She's black with a white patch on her chest and we've called her Rogue (D&
reference). She hasn't once harmed the children, despite their determination to drive her nuts, and although she's not a super cuddly cat, she's generally gentle and soft.
With Christmas over, I'm looking forward to the new year and thinking about how I'm going to make sure it is better than last year. I mean, so long as I don't randomly grow another tumor it's bound to be better than last year... but after clearing the slate, I am wondering whether to return to my old life (teaching full time, lots of stress) or trying something new. You only get one life after all. Being partially deaf and having balance and other issues, teaching is probably not going to be easy unless I get a hearing aid of some sort. If I did go back to teaching, it would be part time too... which would be less money but also, critically, less stress!
Other jobs / options that I'm contemplating:
- Returning to university to do a masters or PhD
- Working with the elderly
- Working as a teaching assistant in a special needs school
- Working with and supporting special needs adults
- Writing (poetry, RPG games, short stories) - but do I have the will power and commitment to actually do this?
This will be my thinking over the next few days.
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