Knapsack Store

I bought some little cards that I liked the look of from a store in the US. I didn't expect them to come so quickly. I quite liked the little package they came in too. 

A pretty strange day all round. I was back in my winter workwear after just a day of summer dresses and heels. It was much cooler today, and we had a few showers. I found out mid-morning that my great-uncle Ray died last night, which was very sad. He was a very gentle and kind man, and the love he showed for my great auntie and their daughter was a great example to me growing up. He shall be very sorely missed. 

My lovely friend S is in a pretty poor state, and she had to go to hospital for her two-weeks post-op check up with the surgeon and to get the results. It came as a bit of a surprise that they decided to admit her, with a raging infection from one of the chest drains they've left in (on purpose) since the surgery. It did explain why she hasn't really gotten any better, but oddly came as a relief. She's been stoic about remaining in her own home, which I can understand, but to the point where even she recognised that if they hadn't admitted her, we might have found her dead in her flat. 

At college last night we had an exam. Instead of the usual 'check-in' and time to talk, we huddled outside our classroom before two invigilators came out to give us our instructions. I thought a couple of people were a bit quiet, but put it down to the fact that we were all a bit stressed. The exam was actually very stressful in itself! Part was watching a video, and then making notes to enable us to answer questions. I did my exams almost 20 years ago, and hand-writing everything left my arm shaking and I honestly thought I would run out of time. That seemed to be the general consensus from all of us. 

We didn't have a whole session tonight, just a de-brief with our tutor and then we left about 8pm. The next morning, lying in bed at 6:30am, one of my lovely course friends sent us all a message on our Whatsapp group to tell us that she didn't want to say anything last night, but that she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. 

So the day was unusually a very sombre one for me, where it felt like bad news was coming from every angle. In spite of it, I managed to suppress my feelings as I do, and carry on the day cheerfully with the children. 

After school, my friend S texted to tell me which ward she was on, and to come visit. I went to dancing first, and popped in just after 7pm. She seems to have had the red carpet rolled out for her, and been given her own private room! We think the surgeon feels quite guilty that she's gone pretty much unchecked and has ended up in such a state. When I got there another friend was there, and she stayed for a bit, before her sister arrived and in all I was there about and hour and a half. She has such a lovely sister and it was good to catch up together- her sister even comes to school to work in our class hearing readers once a week :-) 

Even though it's been super busy and I felt I hadn't stopped all day, I felt very peaceful and content. I think maybe just knowing she's in the right place lessens the worry for us, and especially for her sister, knowing that the nurses will now ensure she's not just soldiering on at home. 

Ironically, as we chatted and laughed around her bed that night, we thought of the irony. We imagined we'd be having a glass of champagne, as the results were actually really good- no evidence of cancer! But this good news seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle with the happenings! I think the relief was palpable, but even though when I look at her and see how cancer has ravaged her and she looks a shadow of her former self, I have to remind myself that she will one day be well, and return to her former glory ;-)