Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief.

Cicero

Pádraig was able to invite his friends again this year for a Christmas get-together last night, for the first time in three years. And the evening was magic, for all who joined in. There were nice drinks, nibbles, and even songs shared between all.

Last week saw another highlight. We had organised a DEXA scan, a bone density scan, that is needed to start treatment against bone loss and osteoporosis. People in wheelchairs are at great risk of osteoporosis. Neither Pádraig’s GP nor ourselves could believe when the results came back as normal. Continue with the calcium supplement and whatever exercise he is doing in An Saol was the advice of the GP.

Extraordinary.

Pádraig and I gave our first joined presentation last week at the Mental Health Commission’s first HR Training Day. We were ‘amateurs’ amongst the ‘professionals’ and the only representatives of the people the MHC was set up for. We weren’t told why, but my guess is that it was because of Pádraig’s involvement in the MHC’s and the Decision Support Service’s (DSS) public information campaign.

Our hope was to demonstrate the importance of the DSS for us and the importance of the very long overdue commencement of the 2015 (sic!) Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act.

I hope we were at least partially successful.

I promised Pádraig and the audience that next time, he would have a more active involvement on the day.

Pat and I had been looking for cheap flights to Spain and found one on Ryanair to Lanzarote.We staid there for just two nights and experienced what we nearly cannot experience anymore, although we tried very hard.

Perhaps it is impossible trying to escape to what very much seemed to be unreal. With other people who seemed to be unreal.

It was a bit like watching a movie. Long-ish, yes, but we knew it had to end soon.

The warm weather, the warm ocean, the extraordinary sunsets, we, all on our own, were never really on our own. It’s hard to describe but you might know what I am talking about.

Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief. The old man got it right