Almost half-term

I'm full of cold as is Graham who unlike him, spent most of the day in bed yesterday. Hoping that the Swiss air will blow away our germs next week.

Trying to write two abstracts, one a short one then the other 2,500 words, both for conferences in September. I'm also thinking about another chapter which I will write when I get back from holiday. This one is about how the caregivers in my project coped with their multiple care-giving roles.

About to stop for a break- a friend is coming round and we are going to go for a walk across the fields. The weather is brightening up a bit which is good.

I have had a strange week though. On Monday I received an email from somebody who I lived in Switzerland with 25 years ago. I haven't seen her since 1988 and she now lives in Australia. We established contact recently via Facebook. Well she emailed to say she wants to meet up in April when she comes back to the UK for a couple of weeks and also to impart some sad news which I have thought of little else this week. A mutual friend who also went to nurse in Switzerland at the time died from oesophageal cancer several years ago and she had only just found out. Of course, whenever I hear good or bad news about people from my past who I haven't been in touch with for years I start to ponder about the past and perhaps think too much about it. Whilst Facebook is a positive medium for reconnecting with people, I do think that God places people in our lives for seasons only and when we move on from various situations we also move on from certain people, leaving the relationship behind. What a tragedy that a forty year old mother died from cancer and it is so clear in my mind, memories of her vivacious and zest for life personality and of the fun times we had together as young nurses in a foreign country. Those memories are etched in my mind, and yet, we lost touch when I moved back to the UK and I didn't know of her suffering, firstly from rheumatoid arthritis and then cancer which ultimately claimed her life.

As a result of this I emailed her husband and received a lovely response from him. He wants to meet up and I have suggested that when the friend from Australia visits we will meet then. Although it is far too late to reclaim the lost years and friendships I think that meeting up with both of them will help me to make more sense of my friends' lives during the last 20 years. Whether we will keep in touch after that, only God knows.