The plan: last moment baking in the morning, then a relaxed afternoon followed by Carols from Kings. During that, step into the garden and raise a glass to the stars, to all those I miss - particularly the lovely man who, were he still with me, would have extracted the cork from the bottle dexterously and with grace with a slight pressure of his thumbs. (He was suspiciously adept)
The reality: baking seemed to take all day. With rest stops, kitchen still vaguely resembles a bomb site after forcing last boxes of sausage rolls and smoked salmon twists into fridge. Gaze at washing up, decide to do it later and continue with glass-to-heavens plan during Carols from Kings. Flaw in cunning plan: overlooked that PMR can affect strength in arms, hands and thumbs.
20 minutes later, red faced and sweating, finally wrestle wretched cork out of bottle just seconds before admitting defeat and chapping on neighbour’s door to beg for help.
Fizz slips into glass. Choristers sound magical. Fizz tastes good. Raise glass to heavens. Ask husband what he thinks he’s doing up there when I need him to get corks out of bottles. Oddly enough, he ignores me.
But still here, still upright and have extracted fizz from bottle. That’s a result - as are all the small victories we all achieve, every day, all the year round. Happy Christmas, everyone xx
Written by
Mai45
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Ah yes.....what we plan, and then the actual outcome, don't always resemble one another, especially given our PMR/GCA.
What a lovely tribute and tradition involving your late husband and the fizz. I'm sad that you are parted, especially at this time of year, and do hope our presence in this forum gives you some comfort.
Darling Mai he is for sure watching you and I feel very strongly you’ll be together again one day. It’s a bitter sweet time of year. Stuff the cleaning up. Enjoy communing with the stars and the fizz. Xxxxx
Is he doing domestic listening from heaven???? Clever!!! Sometimes sheer desperation has had me sawing off the top of the cork with a bread knife and pushing the rest aside with a screwdriver. A big mess but at least I get the bubbles 🤣
Just registered “is he doing domestic listening from heaven?” Angie, he never listened to me wittering on when we were in the same house, never mind in different spheres of eternity! It never stopped me doing the said wittering on though, so why stop now?
Dear Mai,your post is lovely,l miss my husband too,l am sad that he is missing Christmas.I listened to the Carol service from kings,l have lovely memories of kings college chapel,my mother used to take me around there when l was a child,l grew up in Cambridge and l love it .l hope that you enjoy Christmas even though it is bringing back the memories of happy times with your late husband,and you will be missing him so much.Take care Mai,and l wish you a happy and healthy new year xx
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