1thing.co.uk

I’m amazed at the impact my absence has had on the girls.

The last month or so has been horrendously busy.  PwC’s uk site migrated into Documentum and went live at the end of October.  What should have been a walk in the park turned into a nightmare and the team and I ended up working 18 hours a day for weeks.  The knock on was that Mary had to do nearly everything and I would just manage to get home in time to read Rose a bedtime story before logging back in again.

Then as soon as the site goes live I’m on a plane to Monaco, going to Momentum.  Aparently everyone whose anyone in Documentum was there and it was an opportunity not to be missed.  We’ll see what comes from it.

Rose now gets into the bed and snuggles up everynight so that she can be sure that I am there, Violet looks at me with a mixture of disbelief that I am there and great joy that I am there and Mary is wondering who I am.

There’s always a fine balance.  A juggling act of sorts between work and home and getting it right is one of the biggest challenges I have.  My family is very very understanding and appreciate the demands clients put on us, but at the same time I think that they are looking forward to the future when they can have the lion’s share of me.

“Happy days.  I like that Daddy, Happy Days”

Children can be so entertaining sometimes. No matter how black you may feel they can say the simplist of things and bring laughter and joy in an instant.  It’s impossible to resist.  That’s Rose all over.  No matter how miserable I am one smile fills me with joy.

You can imagine how bright the bathroom became when she said that.  There we were brushing teeth when Rose came out with this gem.  Happy Days is a typical east end saying, it’s one that I use often and describes the good feeling when things are going well.  It’s a bit commical because you normally use it in the middle of things not going well, like for instance when you’re planning your way out of a hole and you get to the bit when you’ve ascended into victory you’d then end with “Happy days”.  OK probably not the best analagy but is 6 in the morning.

Today is going to be one of those Happy days and no dought Rose will brighten the days of everyone else she meets today

Well last Sunday was our wedding anniversary.  Five years.  Five long, tough, challenging years. It’s not been easy by anybody’s standards but I am pleased to say that I love my wife more now than I did six years ago when I asked her to marry me. 

Back then I’m not sure I even knew for sure that I loved her, all I knew was that I was with someone that I couldn’t possibly be without.  Seems odd really looking back.  At the time it made perfect sense and over the years I’ve learnt just what love really is and how much I do love her (and yes I’ve learnt to share, most things, as well). 

They say that you grow in the hard times.  Well I think that that is true for a marriage.  We have grown through the hard times, but only because we are committed to this marriage and committed to upholding the promises we made to each and to our God before our God.  I think that the fact that we made our promises before each other in front of the alter of our church before our God has been the best foundation we could have given this marriage because he has been the glue.  The glue that has kept us together, fighting every challenge together, refusing to fail together, suceeding together.

In this day and age, and no disrespect meant to anyone, it’s too easy to bail. To jump ship when the storms of life break on the horizon. Looking back at the last five years there have been plenty of opportunities for both of us to jump when the storms of life have hit.  I think the fact that we have put Him first has kept our marriage going.  In the toughest times it takes an act of will to keep going. When you take that stand for something you need it to be grounded in something.  Ours is grounded in our trust in our God and in our need to be obedient to him.  One of the by products in that he has been glue has kept us together so that we are continually fighting for a common purposes.  The survival of our marriage.  Even when we’ve been at loggerheads with each other this common purposes has still been there.

So here’s to marriage, one of the greatest things God has given us. Here’s to him being the glue in our marriage. Here’s to fighting every storm together, and here’s to my wife.  Thank you for an extraordinary five years and here’s to plenty more.

Last night we settled down to watch a film.  THe kids are away at Nanny’s on their weekend break and we’re having some time together watching a movie on the big screen.  For once it’s going to be somethign different to CBeebies.

At Christmas my wife bought me “Click”.  Neither of us had heard of it or seen anything about it but it had Adam Sandler in it and he’s usualy very funny. Anyway without spoiling it for you the story is based around this young man whose in his early 30’s and is working all the hours he has so that he can make partner and his kids can have a better life and as the story unfolds we get to see what’s happening around him that he’s missing.

As I sat there and laughed my way through it made me wonder if my life was just a little like that.  Am I caught into the work harder for a better life for my kids trap?  Am I missing out on the important things while I chase a better future? 

In ten years time am I going to be some knackered fat guy whose marriage and family have suffered as a result?

Sometimes, just sometimes, there’s some real wisdom written in the music we listen to.  Often my favorite tune is associated with a time or place.  Sometimes it is just that it has a really cool base line or catchy riff.  Occassionally it’s the song of the year and everyone knows why.  But if you really really listen to it sometimes buried in the lyrics there’s some real gems of wisdom that give you a kick in the backside.

Take Israel Kamakawiwo’s version of “Somewhere over the rainbow”. On the surface of it it’s a really cool song.  My wife and I love it and when it’s on we knotched the volume up a little.  When I’m on my own I knotch it up a lot!  Yes I know very sad.  But the otherday when it was cranking out I suddenly found myself listening to the words and this line caught me “and I think to myslef, what a wonderful world”.

Just take five minutes.  Stop and look around. What a wonderful world we live in.  In the middle of all the rubbish that is going on if you just stop.   Put your engine into neutral for a minute and look around.  What a wonderful world we live in.  The bible says “All creation tell of his glory” and when we look past the horrors of this world, past the evil that is happening around us every day, the murders, child kidnappings, arson attacks, robberies we can see beautiful wonderful things in this world that God has created.

It’s esy to have our vision blurred. Information is screaming at us all the time and unfortunately most of what we’re told in the news is bad.  These days it’s quite rare to see good news on the front page and so our view of this world can often be littered with all the bad that is happening.

But just for 5 minutes, look up, take your eyes of the streets covered in litter, and take a long hard look at this world that God has created and as the song says, for those 5 minutes your “troubles will melt like lemon drops”