with raven in day care and most of my mondays free, jeff and i have decided to turn these days into dates where we do fun and exciting stuff. i don’t know what rocks your boat but for us, that means grocery shopping or ticking off errands that need to be done before work consumes us for the rest of the week.

not to mention the appointments we’ve booked with our GP in the last couple of weeks regarding jeff’s complaints of pain which had us going through the hoops of the medical process of finding out the cause.

all the while, jeff was being dramatic and talking about our mortgage situation in the event of his demise. blah, blah, blah…

as a wife, i was kind of worried about him. like, if i have to rate my concern from 1 to 10, it would be sitting at around 2.

as a nurse, that level drops down to 1. (just take two panadols every 4 hours and see how you go. next!)

that’s the thing about pain. it’s highly subjective. some go a bit overboard with the theatrics of minimal pain, while some maintain the stoicism of a martyr in the throes of a major one. either way, you have to acknowledge it. that’s just how it goes.

i’m not downplaying jeff’s pain. if he says it’s there, then it’s there. but when he wakes me up in the middle of the night to tell me his verbal will, that’s where i draw the line.

“jeff, you’re not gonna die, okay? if you can still skate, then you’re fine.”

“see, that’s the thing,” he’d insist. “the pain goes away when i skate!”

i swear to god, sometimes i wonder if it’s just an alibi so he can clock in more skating time with my wholehearted consent.

but, nah, i love that guy. sure, he annoys the hell out of me at times but all in all, he’s alright. that’s what the specialist said yesterday as well so it’s all good.

back to regular programming.

like me learning to skate on our so-called dates and sloooooooowwwwwwwlllllllyyyyyyy making progress. he says i’m doing great but i know he’s just pulling my leg. i’m pretty realistic. i know where i stand.

because more than the technical stuff, there’s these issues about myself that i need to overcome. mainly my fears. that shit doesn’t magically disappear in just one or two sessions. but i’ll get there.

patience is a virtue, so they say.

on this day, he egged me to go down the slope. challenge accepted, albeit hesitantly.

and when the day is done, we pick up raven and go to our favourite restaurant. raven knows her order already. as always, it’s hotdog and rice for this kid.

*raven at 2 years old