happy birthday constance

Dear Constance,
I hope you've had a relaxing and happy birthday. I haven't accessed the forum for a while. I went for a quick trip to Port Moresby to drop the Dolphin Pearl off to be sandblasted. The trip will pay for my next round of injections (right eye on the 30th of December, left eye on the 31st). Because of the government rebate it will also cover a few other looming bills.
Because it was so close to Christmas it was hard to get flights out of Moresby, so we ended up having to stay 3 or 4 extra days in the dockyard. Because the boat went up on the slip a few hours after we arrived, we were accommodated in the dockyard.
The accommodation provided is a series of converted shipping containers. Last time we stayed in them half of us ended up with bed-bugs. By the time we got back home we were scratching fit to kill.
This time I was lucky enough to have an adventurous engineer and mate as crew on my boat. So we escaped from the dockyard and Port Moresby and stayed on a nearby island. Here is the night-time view from my balcony and the daytime view from the breakfast buffet:

sorry if these photos are too large. I don't know how to shrink them so I'll leave them up for a few days and then take them down again.
We were on the island for about 28 hours but it felt timeless and very healing and I was so excited and happy that it was with a jolt I remembered that a few months ago I believed my life was over and all joy had disappeared forever.

I was soo sick on the crossing to Port Moresby Constance. I've rarely been seasick and when I have been it passes relatively quickly. This was something different. It was hell all the way until we finally dropped anchor...36 hours of absolute nauseous and vomiting horror. To my credit, the crew didn't miss a meal. I think that's why they looked after me so well on the island.

In another thread I read about the blouse your mother wanted you to wear for your birthday. The one she'd advised you to bury her in. My mother did similar things. I'm sure she would have had me accompany her to her grave if she'd had the power to swing it...it's a measure of her power that I believed such a feat would be easy for her.

Stay strong Constance.

I really appreciate your company here and your courage in sharing slices of your life.  

Why Moonie thank you for writing and I hope the injections yesterday and today the 31st, went well. It is New Year's Eve here and New Year's Day where you are. I wish you and all ATUers a Very Happy New Year! I hope the eyes recover so well for you. Thank you for the birthday wishes. Best wishes for the new year for the eyes and for all that awaits and greets you, my friend!

Glad you had a good trip and the pictures are beautiful, but so sorry to hear you were ill! I hear that sea-sickness is awful. I only got sick from my pregnancy with Jonathan once. I went to the mailbox when I was a few weeks pregnant and got a complaint letter from a student whom I had given a B minus in his writing class. It was so badly written--so full of misspellings and grammatical errors and just badly written--that I just forwarded it to my Chairperson without comment. Then I threw up. Only time.

Yes I wore the blouse. My mother is dominating and a narcissist... and much in my life. The past five times or so I've seen her she's hung up on me or made a comment/insult or some bizarre remark. I am afraid of her, never stand up to her, very meek and timid. She cannot be talked to/reasoned with. And she is 87 and going strong. I have been good and for the most part have build a good (peaceful) relationship with her, myself, and the girls, to model a happy family. She is very strong minded and independent and in fact things could be much worse.I made a nice Christmas Day for her and the girls at my house. Tom spent Christmas Day with his 95 year old mother in her nursing home. She has dementia. I took Tom's sister and Madeleine to see her the week before Christmas, and we also went to see her (Tom's mother) with Diana's brother (Tom's brother, Byard) the day after Christmas. So we are attentive to the elders.

It is way too early too feel the pinch, but a 2 pm I was overwhelmed with thinking I was taking Madeleine back to college on Sunday and got very teery and ill. Still rather wobbly but like you say, stay strong! I am surrounded by a family but sometimes….scared.

Stay in touch. It is a stability in my life to hear your resolute voice. I hope your day today is filled with good things, and there will be many thoughts from me to you!

C