Heavenly Beverley : Happiness Is...

What is happiness?

This week has been rather topsy-turvy. Who remembers those memorable lyrics of Gerry Rafferty -"...clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you". I know I live in a veritable circus, but sometimes I just want to run away from the craziness!

Last week, we journeyed to the Big Smoke, primarily for my Comprehensive Lung Function Test, to ascertain the efficiency (or otherwise as it turned out...) of air transfer in the tiniest of blood vessels within my lungs. As I have previously commented, Small Airways Disease should be renamed "Bloody Annoying and Most Inconvenient Airways Disease". In early November, I shall complete the current round of testing with a Stress Echocardiogram. I didn't know they could get stressed, but there you are...Following that, we shall then visit our Respiratory Oracle, to hear the Latest Results. Oh. happy days....

As an antidote to all this unpleasantness, we then spent two glorious nights immersed by toddler and pre-schooler chaos, laughter, tears, meals, teddies, dolls, books, television, blocks and a sea of toys (some with sharpish edges) to navigate across Cal and Bron's family room. Now, that is a family room with a capital "F"!

We began by introducing our two divine granddaughters to Dingle-Dangle, a knitted farmer scarecrow that was bigger than 18 month old Violet. Dingle-Dangle was immediately absorbed into the family, though finding him once face down in the hallway was a little too close to an episode of CSI.

We went on an extended family outing to Yanchep National Park, with Immy and Cal engaging in Nature Play, whilst Bron and Violet inspected the duck families on the beautiful expanses of lawn. We nearly collapsed with laughter as Violet chased the ducks on her rickety little legs, shouting "RAAAH" in their general direction. Believe me, the ducks were in absolutely no peril.

We spotted the koalas snoring their rocks off in their enclosure. We walked around the lovely grounds next to the lake. Immy practised her gymnastic skills with her litter sister endeavouring to copy her with Daddy's able assistance. Michael and I reminisced about our visits in the past, noting with some sadness, the individual rowboat jetties now high and dry. Immy collected some new flora specimens for her outdoor kitchen.

The following morning, Violet demonstrated her fine motor skills by undoing the zip of Immy's nature bag, finding a largish seed, which was then expertly removed from her mouth...

Cal and Michael enjoyed some Bloke Time, digging out a pesky Yucca that was beginning to crack a limestone garden bed. Immy shouted encouragement out her bedroom window when she should have been having her afternoon rest. The boys followed this activity with a trip to Bunnings Warehouse (known as "Hammerbarn the world over, thanks to Bluey), surely the most bonding outing a couple of males can have. They returned to the house triumphant with several purchases.

I read to Immy, sang to Violet and was thrilled to be allowed into their world of imaginative play. We had long chats with both Cal and Bron, watched Cal's latest choices in movies for us, devoured a gourmet breakfast feast, drank copious amounts of tea, coffee and vino, enjoyed a fantastic Cal-cooked lasagne and finished with a brilliant Asian takeaway dinner.

Ragnar, the resident psycho Ragdoll cat, generously allowed Michael to stroke him periodically, whilst Violet had to be rescued repeatedly due to her efforts to make friends with the evil feline.

We whispered during naptime and witnessed Immy's joy when she emerged in the mid-afternoon to discover we were still there. Violet warmed to us again, surprisingly rapidly, and by the time we left, she was blowing kisses and giving us high fives.

We had been planning a trip to the zoo, but the weather forecast canned that outing to another day. Were we upset? Not a chance. We were having far too much fun to notice any possible regret. What a privilege to savour for forty-eight sensational hours. Cal and Bron leave us speechless with their amazing parenting skills and their little girls are testament to their abilities.

Just writing about being with them has brought a smile to my face and banished the recent trials.

Now that is happiness!