On a sombre note.

Having lived with this shoulder over the past few weeks (you should try living without it ! I can hear Groucho exclaiming in my head) it has given me another perspective on life.

We take life so lightly and maybe we should.
Striding confidently along not expecting any trips and falls along the way we break new ground, or exceed our potential or push the boundaries.

We accomplish, achieve, surpass our goals and targets.
It's all so effortless once we knuckle down to it and put our shoulder to the wheel, our best foot forward.

The next level and the next are now achievable, within our sights.
We move forward and upward relentlessly through walking, talking, feeding, reading, writing, socialising to notching many new subjects on our belt.

All done with hindsight, fairly effortlessly.

Effortless. Without effort.

What of the folk who do have to put effort in to achieve these same goals?
I now have a new admiration for family members who have kept going forward despite ailments or injuries, physical or emotional.

Have I accorded them the understanding of their determination to get on, move forward, achieve their daily goals?

Is this to do with stopping and smelling the roses?

Am I on a roll, too caught up with self to stop and pass the time of day with my neighbour?

Has it really taken an ailment to make me slow down and open my eyes to those around me? !
We are all so clever with our achievements and attainments that we allow qualities like understanding, listening, caring, to slip away.

My Mum cleaned her front path before going in to hospital to die with cancer three weeks later.

For the past nine years I have never been able to understand why or how she did it.

I think I now know she was conquering her pain in her inimitable, hard working manner.

If only I'd stopped to try to understand her. Nine years too late.