Still dancing...

Last night with TRiO students at their end of Study Tour Party - great fun!

The week has absolutely flown by - very busy at work - lots of things happening. Off to Berlin tomorrow - spend most of last week trying to write a paper - which I did just in time to photocopy the powerpoint to take with me by 5 on Friday!

Jimmy went to his prom last night - looking gorgeous in his suit - he is so much 'lighter' the last few weeks - I think his exams were putting him under a lot of stress - I also think it has taken him this length of time for him to come out of the shock of his Dad dying, him finding him in the garden and the whole process of us getting back on an even keel.

When I was in Spain - one of my fellow dancers was a young woman of about 32 who was dancing through splitting up with her long term boyfriend - he had found his father dying at the age of 16 and because he hadn't dealt with it - was still - 16 or so years later on - unable to move on and have a relationship. Made me think about my Jimmy - but positive thoughts as I don't think he will be worse off for what happened to him and in many ways the reverse - it has made him take on responsibility for himself (and me) which has made him a more mature young man - and gorgeous in his suit - and that's not just because I'm his Mum!

Saturday morning and the dog's letting me know he wants a walk - then Rob for breakfast and clothes shopping with Jim - which wont take long!

Home from Spain

….. and very content - which is a lovely state of mind. Got back yesterday and almost immediately went to Laurie’s 18th Birthday party – which was a really good do and an opportunity to meet many of my dear friends – I was pretty high after my week in Spain –and felt a very strong desire to keep on dancing – much to Jimmy’s relief I managed to contain myself!!

My dancing week was amazing – lots of new firsts and a real sense of doing things for myself by myself.

Will have to take several weeks – if not longer - to really think through everything but feel very, very lucky that I had the opportunity to do it.

It’s Sunday night and I have a very early start tomorrow – am also pretty knackered – but it’s a lovely feeling to be home – still feeling the warmth and challenge of last week – mummmm it’s a great feeling.

I put my photos of the week on an album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/triciajenkinsno1/CanLlapartJune2008

Now it's time for sleep……………….

Dancing in Spain

Well dancing in Spain is as good as I thought it would be - or had hoped it would be. Today is Wednesday so we only dance once today at 4 which gives us time to visit Bagnoles and the market. We usually dance twice a day for 5 - 6 hours.

There are 20 of us. 3 teachers.16 of us and a beautiful baby. It's one of those experiences that are very intense and will require a lot of thinking through in the future. My life in Liverpool seems a long way away at the moment but that's good and I feel remarkably happy!

Today I go dancing....

… and last night I had butterflies in my stomach – that’s good ‘cos it feels really exciting. Not certain where I’m going or who will be there or what we’ll do – apart from dance!!

Feels like there are lots of new things happening in my life at the moment – and that does make me feel a bit nervous but I do feel more excited than anxious - and also lucky.

Jim, Rob and I met Lara’s parents on Thursday – which went really well – I was invited to go and visit them in Spain before long which I intend to do – so now must really concentrate on getting conversational in Spanish!

I did miss Chris very badly, I just felt he would have got on so well with Lara’s Dad – Chris didn’t really speak Spanish and Lara’s Dad has no English – but many a time we had left Chris in a Spanish bar with a newspaper and come back to find he had managed to communicate in some way with most of the people there. Most famously the time when he was asked out to compare scars with the cousin of the butcher who had been mauled by a bull!

But Chris ’s not here and wasn’t with us when we met Lara's parents but we did fine and tonight I will be dancing in Spain!

Blessing counting time

Sunday morning - am feeling very tired at the moment –– not a bad tiredness but a worn thin – ready for a holiday tiredness. Busy week ahead and then off dancing in Spain for a week – am so excited about this.

This is something that only the ‘new Trish’ could have done. I’m sure Chris wouldn’t have minded me going off for a week dancing in Spain – but I wouldn’t have wanted to do that then. Also on reflection I can see that I did actually feel - that the time that I had with Chris was precious - particularly that last year.

Anyway I now feel that all my time is precious – and a strong desire to make the most of everything. Strangely this can be coupled with times when I don’t want to do anything - not my natural state! But all this reinforces - my mantra - I’m just so lucky to be alive.

Shopping, barbies and Spanish

It’s Sunday morning and I will be going for a run shortly but am feeling a bit hung-over as Gilly and Nita came round for a barbeque and I couldn’t get it to light – it’s got all cracked – so we ended up drinking loads of wine waiting for it to get going. Have decided to go and buy a new one today – this one I bought with Rob when I was going through my bereaved shopping phase.

Having a shopping weekend as I bought a new breadmaker yesterday – as I had started making bread when Chris’s breadmaker – and I do so think of it as his – blew up last week in a puff of acrid smoke – fusing all the electrics – seemed ironic – so I went and bought a Tricia breadmaker and made delicious rolls for the barbie in it!

Working on my Spanish as we’re going to meet Lara’s parents in a couple of weeks. Margaret has given me the Michel Thomas CDs and I really like his approach. Google Translate is also really useful.

Am so looking forward to dancing in Spain - I found this on the internet which is a description of 5 Rhythm Dancing - and I can understand it!

La energía se mueve en olas. Las olas se mueven con patrones. Los patrones se mueven con ritmo. El ser humano es sólo eso: energía, olas, patrones, ritmos. Nada más, nada menos.

So a good weekend after a knackering week. Things to do and things to look forward to.