Like a real human

 At the weekend Mark and I did things that made us feel like we were real humans again and not on this ill/treatment continuous path. I even wore real clothes! No that I normally wear fake clothes but I've got into the habit of wearing joggers and a a sweatshirt because it is comfy for the hospital, but they are not clothes I would often wear normally. So at the weekend i wore dresses and leggings and cardigans! The reason for this change of clothing, it was our wedding anniversary. twelve years of married goodness. Well twelve years of up and down togetherness. The first few were marked by me having M.E., then we had Zeb and we both would admit that we found the early days a struggle. And now we are walking this path. And yet through all of that God has been gracious to us and helped us grow in love for him and love for each other, guiding and comforting us through illness and child raising. We wouldn't be without our saving, grace giving God. We are not always very good at celebrating our wedding anniversary but this year decided we would. Some very kind friends had given us a voucher for a night away at a hotel. We found out that a colleagues daughter was in a production of The Sound of Music in Norwich and it sounded worth seeing so we thought we'd use the chance to use the voucher and go tot he theatre at the same time. Zeb got to have a Grandad and Nanny sleepover. The timing worked quite well as we were already staying at dads so Zeb had all his things there already. So Saturday morning we set off, making a stop off at Dunelm on the way out of Ipswich to pick up a click and collect and get new towels ready for the new bathroom. The journey to Norwich was clear and smooth. Mark tells me the car is beautiful to drive for journeys like that. After a few laps we found the parking we were looking for. Then we headed into a shopping center, I think it was called Intu, where we found the facilities and some food. I had a jacket potato with butter chicken from Spud U like by James Martin and Mark had a Subway. We popped into one or two shops, including getting a string to attach to my glasses as when I wear a mask and glasses and use my walker the slightly stooped position means that my glasses keep falling off and I have to stop to catch them. Often causing the person behind me to bump into me. At one point they nearly ended up in the toilet bowl! It was a short walk from there to the Theatre Royal. Neither of us had been there before. It was lovely. We thought we'd treat ourselves to a pre show drink, something we would rarely do. But it gave us a chance to sit and chat. And ordered an interval ice cream. I have to be careful with some ice creams with the clean diet but these were individual tubs, which are ok, Then the doors were open and we could go and find our seats. Being a bit careful with money we'd bought some of the cheaper seats available, which were in the circle. The steps to get up there were steep! Mark did a great job of carrying my walker up them, and there was a helpful gap at the back of the seats we could store the walker. We were in the second row from the back, a few seats a long the row so we had to stand a few times to let people through. Then the show started, and the late comers came in and those with cans of drink opened them with a 'tsch' all at once. It was magical! We've both seen the film, but there were parts that we didn't remember, especially a few songs. The performance was wonderful. Considering the performers were not professionals and had been working while rehearsing and doing the performances. The quality of performance was outstanding! The children were so good and the cast clearly got on well together. There's nothing like a bit of live music and singing to lift the soul. We did wonder beforehand if some of the audience would join in with the songs and it turn into an unofficial sing-a-long so that we couldn't properly hear what was happening on the stage. Thankfully this did not happen. Although Mark did have a hummer sat next to him. The usher had kindly suggested to us that the best way out was to go down the steps inside the theatre as they were more user friendly than the ones we'd come up and had good handles to hold onto. So we did this in the interval to find the good toilets and our ice creams. We also used these stairs at the end as they led us to the lift, much much easier than the stairs. So time to find the hotel and check in. We had reserved an accessible room. It turned out this was the room furthest from the reception area, which meant we had to use the wheelchair hair to get to and from our room. Poor Mark, all that pushing. It was the biggest hotel room I have ever seen. The bathroom was bigger than Zebs bedroom at home. What a treat! The restaurant was back near reception. I had a little lie down then we headed for dinner, which was kindly included in our voucher.  Three courses! More food than I needed but incredibly tasty. I had soup, followed by chicken burger and sweet potato fries and then banana bread and mango sorbet. And interesting combination for pudding, but I wasn't going to let something mango pass me by. Mark had gammon followed by something chocolatey, which will come as no surprise to those who know him. A good nihgt sleep followed.

Something I have wanted to do for a long time is go to a service in a cathedral. Why I didn't do this in all the years I lived in Derby I don't know. We looked into other things we could do in Norwich and surrounding area and found nothing we wanted to do more that came with as cheaper price tag! We headed to the 10:30 service and were greeted warmly, given the service booklets and shown what was where. The service started with the choir processing in. We didn't know when to sit or stand so largely followed what others did, or I just sat if I felt to weak to stand. There was one strange bit where some people processed out with some candles, the congregation stood as they did so and then all turned around at the same time.  The music was wonderful, both the organ and the choir. The service was a little tricky to follow as it flicked between two service books and by the time you'd got to the right book they were beyond the page you'd turned to it for. But we got there. The sermon was inspiring and spoke to both of us in our current circumstances, specifically about the church being a body of people working together and GOd being for us. I found it incredible to think that we were worshipping in a place that people had worshipped for over 900 years. That the people and way of worship may have changed but that God and his nature had not changed at all in all that time. Yesterday. today, forever Jesus is the same. All may change but Jesus never, glory to his name. What a mighty God we serve, who is big enough to hold us in his hand and manage all our troubles and joys. It was lovely to do things that people do normally and even though I still had to have my chemo and some other tablets and was very tired it was just the reset we needed in the middle of all this. Once again thanks to the generosity of others.