I was talking to Suez in chat and my son came and put a wooden cobra over my shoulder. I hate snakes in real life and even that one gave me shivers. Even a 30 year old kid likes to tease his mother.

We went on to talk about people coming and going in our lives. In Australia the kids who come back home are called "boomerangs" they come home for a variety of reasons, end of relationships, loss of job (our son) to go to University or ongoing training. The nest is always there it seems, waiting to welcome them home.

We've had to make some adjustments of course and aren't always happy with each other but that is fairly normal I would say. He has a part-time job now and is usually away Monday and Tuesday and one other day. This gives us all a break away from each other.

I was thinking about when we had all the kids home as teenagers. It was a lively, noisy household. All our kids loved to have their mates over. It was not unusual to find a note on the refrigerator: "Please wake up Warren at 7am, he is third from the wall in the red sleeping bag." So as gently as I could I would shake Warren and send him off to his shift at McDonalds. Being careful not to walk on the others as there could be four or five stretched across the living room floor on a Sunday morning.

It is great to look back at those times. Now we have three 30+ adult children and three grandchildren and since Ray's strokes our life is very different. It is not a bad life though. There are still good days, like our three BBQ days in a row last weekend. There are bad days and sad days too but it is not good to dwell on them. It is important to find a balance in life.

I know from reading the forums and the blogs that there are a lot of people in a worse situation than we are in. We live in a very pleasant area and have some good friends. We don't have all the support we need now but I am working on that. I think it is important to be working towards a solution rather than sitting down and expecting others to find one for us. Eventually the situation will change one way or another and we will go on to face other hurdles. That is the way life is.

I know what reality is, I live it, breathe it and taste it some days. But to dwell on the dark and gloomy aspects of my life would be like living in a dark and gloomy room with all the curtains drawn and who wants to live life like that? I'd rather go outside and stand in the fresh air for a while and let the sun take my sadness away. Thank goodness I don't live in the city where the skyscrapers shut out the sun but in a pleasant valley in suburbia where I can see the treetops as well as the houses. And hear the birdsong above the traffic noises.

If you wake up blue this morning go outside, even in your northern winter where you may have to rug up to do so. There is something about being outside that clears your head. For those who can't sit back relax and let a memory of some warm spring day into your mind. We all have memories, good and bad. Today choose to think of the good ones.

In the end life is what you make it.