Wow is it hot this week!
I think back to all our summers from as far as I can remember, till the last summer we spent together before you moved to a Care Home.
Up early to cook in order to get to Sliema by 9am was important to me, to my children and most of all, to you, Mum and Dad. Parking was always an issue near the Swimming club, but who cared!
The freshness, relief and total bliss of the sea was worth every imaginable sacrifice. The sea is the best destresser in the world…as you let your body float and dip your hair in the cool water, all your troubles literally wash away.
As a child, I never wanted to leave the water. My children were exactly the same…and now my grandchildren too. You showed us the love of the sea, and we passed it on to the next generations.
We started our first summer in the sea and so did you Mum, Dad. The smiles, the happiness, the banter, laughter, we are truly blessed to have nature’s gift around us.
45 years being part of the swimming club was a big part of our lives and we had lots of friends to share this happiness with. And it was the last thing we did, hours before we took you to the Care Home. From swimming in the sea, to the main pool and then to the baby pool, it did not matter at all, as long as we saw and felt your happiness as you glided through the water when you could, and then stood up in shallow water when you couldn’t. You truly loved it, and it was and is one of the biggest obstacles that came in the way of your happiness when we could not take you anymore.
The Care Home had a pool but you weren’t allowed to swim when you became incontinent so that was short lived. You had to watch others until you just turned away in disappointment. It was no one’s fault of course, it is just the way your life snatched you away, slowly but surely.
As climate change makes summers much hotter, we do need to look after ourselves and our loved ones. However, we should never deprive others from this gift, either because we cannot make the time, or we do not feel like. I say to you, make the effort, for an effort it may be, but the reward is much greater. Do not deprive your loved ones of these moments of happiness because life has a way of taking them away before you know it.
Mum, your happiness, smiles and laughter are etched in my mind, and I think of you so much as I dip into the water of life. I hear your sounds of joy and feel your delight as you frolicked in the sea. My smile joins yours and the happy memories are a treasure to me today.
What does it take to take your loved ones to enjoy the simple pleasures of life? We get so caught up in work, housework, shopping, of course we do. Yet, somehow, we forget that life is for living. When did it become a crime to leave the house undusted, or the shopping to be done on another day, or a work text unanswered after office hours?
Bring a smile to your loved one’s face…that is what matters most.