It Doesn't Always Stay Grey

Some lovely things have happened this week to counter-balance all the heavy from last week.

My big boy Sam has always wanted to by a physiotherapist. Unfortunately his leaving score from high school wasn't enough to get him in so he chose exercise physiology instead. But the dream didn't die and he's tried for a few years to get into the post-graduate physio course. And on Monday he found out he'd been accepted into the next intake. He starts at the end of November and it's going to be a tough 2 years of study - but I've never seen him so excited. You just can't wipe the smile off his face. And what was also nice, his brothers were incredibly excited for him too. There were beautiful messages of congratulations on Facebook, hugs and high-fives in the hallway and such a positive energy in the house.

We got to meet Josh's new girlfriend on Monday. I've seen her a couple of times and said hello but Josh finally had her for dinner so we could talk to her over a meal. And I really like her. She's polite, respectful, has beautiful manners and a gentle spirit.

And on Tuesday night we had another full house at the dinner table with the other girlfriends. I love the energy and the conversation and the laughter. It makes the house feel full of love and joy. Hannah had lots to talk about - she'd been to a psychology lecture on sexism and was really enjoying pointing out all Sam's sexist traits. And he was denying sexism and claiming a superiority complex which he's sure is justified. Luke's girlfriend Becky is a debater and she was enjoying inserting insightful comments and I was pleased that the table was full of girl-power and oestrogen - nice for a change.

Josh has improved since last week. I've since found out that the brain becomes dependent on the drugs and reduces production of its own happy chemicals. So cold-turkey was probably not the wisest way to stop and I'll be getting him to the doctor next time to work out a plan once he feels he's ready.

I had the crappiest speed session ever yesterday. My legs felt like I was running through mud. It was 1k repeats that occurred every 5:30. So if you ran your repeat in 4:40 you got 50 seconds recovery before running your next. But the closer you got to a 5:00 min rep, the less recovery you got. My reps started at 4:37 and finished at 5:10. So much for keeping them consistent. But I found out that most of the group struggled too so I'm not feeling too bad about it.

And to finish on a totally different note - there's been a little romancing in the henhouse. The girls are being visited by a tall, dark, handsome (depending on your taste) stranger. It's a menage-a-trois (excuse the spelling if it's wrong) but so far it seems quite functional. I'm thinking of calling him Tiger because of his colour and his propensity for multiple, simultaneous girlfriends.