Thank God it's almost Friday

Inspired by Paula's post, I thought I would also put an entry into Sleep is for the weak's writing workshop. The theme that spoke to me was the one on thankfulness. Let me start by giving you some context.

This week has been mental. The weekend was taken up by a very important event, my husband's brother and partner got married. It was lots of fun and very creative - we had a tea dance where we learnt the cha cha and the jive whilst drinking Prosecco in china cups and eating lashings of cake. The wedding breakfast was served in the evening and it was the most authentic Indian curry I have had in a very long time, served in a brown cardboard box.

The newly weds then boarded a plan on Wednesday morning headed for a three week holiday in Japan before continuing on to New Zealand, which is where they plan to settle. We had spent two nights in London over the weekend, enjoyed a pre-wedding meal the night before and a brunch with immediate family on Sunday so I thought we had said our goodbyes. There was however an expectation to reconvene on Tuesday night for one last get together. In the end I sent my husband and the girls because I had a few hours to do an emergency rewrite of the workshop I was presenting the next day!

Wednesday for me was mad. I ran a cross-cultural mentoring workshop all day in London then whizzed back to Hitchin to grab the car. Then it was a drive to Newmarket to film a slot as part of the People's Panel for the Politics Show on Sunday so it was a late finish added to which I had had an insomnia attack on Tuesday night!

Today instead of a quiet day in the office catching up with calls and other stuff. We all had to get dressed and drive up to Staffordshire for a family funeral. The girls are only 3 and 2 so I stayed at a family member's house so one could nap and the other could play with all the princess stuff whilst the others attended the service. The wake was held in a pub and after three hours, the girls were getting bored so we made our excuses and left to make the great journey south and home.

What has kept me going this week? Through it all there has been my family. My husband is very good at keeping calm and reasoning stuff out and the girls just lighten the mood. The eldest was trying to explain that we could afford to go to New Zealand if we took all the money in her piggy bank, the huge bag of coppers she received from her Uncle before he left and various other bits of money that are lying around the house! They spent the afternoon charging around talking to the members of the family they knew at the wake spreading their sunshine wherever they went and impressing people with their confidence. My youngest is very attuned to my feelings and came up and demanded a cuddle today. I will always remember us singing versions of Row, Row and other such stuff with her on my knee in the midst of the wake. I just feel grateful to have such a wonderful immediate family who bring joy to me and others in their own particular ways.