It's the end of the year (and not a moment too soon!)

What can I say after a year such as this!

It's my last day at work for the year and most of my colleagues have already gone early. The rest are in the garden enjoying yet another end-of-year braai. I am winding down and getting things sorted out and will also be leaving shortly. But a few thoughts before I go:

Shopping with kids of any age is a total no-no. After work on Wednesday, I picked up the boys and went through to our local mall which has extended shopping hours at the moment. They were keen to go but as soon as Dael had his purchase - a new cellphone charger as the puppy chewed his last one, he was ready to go home. The boys already have their Christmas gift - a new skateboard and a skater t-shirt each which has totally blown their Christmas budget so they are not 'owed' anything else. Bradley ended up having a full-blown argument with me because he wanted to buy a knuckle duster which is a weapon you wear on your fist to knock out your opponent (and probably break their jaw). I refused to buy him that because obviously I'm not going to buy them anything they can injure each other with. It's amazing how they gravitate towards knives, crossbows and other assorted weapons of destruction! He ended up flouncing up to the car where Dael had already retreated to listen to music and sulking all the way home (so much for the shopping trip) and I ended up shouting again and refusing to take them shopping again. So that's that.

Robynne in Cape Town is still working. She is officially on leave but had to come in and try and finish off invoicing and payments. She cannot concentrate. She is exhausted from working her night job to make ends meet. Her boss was in worrying her and asking her to do things for him before he went off to play golf. His wife (her other boss) went home because her daughter is having a crises and my daughter is locked in to carry on working. I commiserated with her and told her not to lose her sense of humour but also that I thought the writing was on the wall for this job because she is not earning enough to make ends meet without working several nights a week as well and she is exhausted. She ended up relating an interesting thought from a fiction book she read lately which obviously struck a chord with her. She said that in life we are juggling several ball: one is work, one is family, one is our health, one is our integrity. However 3 out of 4 balls are made of glass and if we drop them they break, so we have to juggle them very carefully. The 4th ball is rubber and always bounces back up if we drop it - and that one is work! So work will always be there but don't drop the others because you won't be able to mend them. Very thought-provoking.

On a slightly different note, I was driving up to work this morning using the back road instead of the freeway and just relaxing because I was a bit early rather than late as usual. All of a sudden, the guy behind me was flashing his lights at me and gesturing. Then he started veering out behind me to try and pass. Now there were cars in front of me and only space for one more car between me and the other cars. But this guy who was travelling with his wife was so angry. We were travelling uphill and there was a lot oncoming traffic but as soon as he could he screamed past me hooting at me in anger. He veered in again just in front of me cos that's as far as he could go. I really couldn't see the point of all that anger to gain one position on the road. But the point is: I retaliated and started gesturing at him. I gave him the finger (he gave it back), I hooted at him. My New Year's resolution will have to be: Do not react to other people's anger! Stay calm. I actually felt worse because of my reaction than how I was treated because I felt like I put myself onto his low level.

I will be back online on the 12th January, hopefully well rested and definitely penniless by that stage. I am missing you all already but I wish to a restful relaxed and stress free Festive Season and safe travelling wherever you go.

Lots of love.