How Full Is Your Glass

I heard this said many years ago and felt this is something we should always remember.  A teacher in a school walked into class with a wine glass and asked his pupils if the glass was full and they obviously said that it was empty.  So the teacher scooped up some large stones and filled up the wine glass.  He again asked if the glass was full to which everyone replied yes.  He again picked up a hand full of gravel and gently tipping it into the glass the gravel filled in the gaps the stones had not.  He asked again if the glass was full and they all agreed that it was definitely full and nothing would now fit into the glass.  He then went on to scoop up some sand and drizzle it into the glass the sand then filled in the gaps that the gravel had left.  Now what can you tell me about this glass he asked the class and they all agreed that nothing else would fit in the glass.  The teacher bent down and reached for a bottle of wine that was hidden out of view.  He then preceded to pour wine into the glass the wine filling any gaps that were left.  The moral of this wee story is, it doesn't matter how full your life is.  How busy it is.  There is always room for a glass of wine.  What  I really want to say is we get so caught up in our day to day life.  Work, family, hobbies doing things for friends and family, busy, busy, busy.  We should never forget who we are and we should always treat ourselves to 'a glass of wine'

To My Nan

I wrote this poem and said it at my nan's funeral last year.  This poem is not about being sad its telling her that we will always love her and thanking her for being with us.  She was a very special lady and our family were lucky to have her with us for so many years.  At the time even googling I couldn't find anything really appropriate, so in the end I wrote this.

Nan

They Broke the mould the day they made you,

Angel from above,

You took us in, you gave us warmth and

Your eternal love.

To know you was a privilege,

A space we cannot fill,

Although you can't be with us,

Your spirit always will.

Ninety two years of glory,

Mother, Sister, Wife, Nan and Friend

So this is our farewell to you,

Our tribute at the end.

You may not be in our world

As the person that you are,

But we know that you are with us,

And that you care,

Our biggest brightest star.

Writing to work working to write

I returned to work today after two months off.  One of the great things about working in a school is the fact your get many paid breaks from work.  These could quite easily be used writing my 'novel' or preparing notes or visiting places to go in my novel. Quite often though being a mother of two, my days were spent enjoying their company and playing my motherly roles.  It's a tricky job being a working mum and a writer, you seem to be forever juggling between the day job, full-time mum job and the part time author's job.  Sadly the writing unless planned often gets pushed into some small time slot and that's if your still half sane and not falling asleep over the key board.  Just the thought of writing during daylight hours often puts me in panic mode.  What if I turn into an eccentric author who wants to be locked away and forgets about being a mum.  So the thought of writing during day light hours tends to be forgotten.   

What I do know is that these amazing ideas that we get, we are given for a reason and even if it means burning the midnight oil for a few months to avoid  missing my kids growing, its what I need to do.  I have an amazing love for my children and the guilt of being away from them during the day when I am working the day job is outweighed by the need as a mother to supply for their future.  I have found my routine bazar as it is I call it my sleeping pill.  but unlike the ones you get in little jars my sleeping pill is black has a 10 inch screen and defuzzes my brain so by the time I have writen 1000 words or so I am sooooooooo ready to sleep, gone is the wishful thinking that I can wake up at 5am and have two hours to write, maybe as my book draws to a close it may be something I will do.  But for now I have found my self and I feel the happiest I have needed to feel in along time.