sleepless on the west coast.

i do not have a problem sleeping, in fact, quite the opposite!
i sleep in the blink of an eye. i fall asleep in movie
theatres, reading out loud to my grandchildren. i drift off
during the first ten minutes of a show i have waited all week
to watch. sometimes, in the middle of typing, i wake up,
slumped over the computer keys! at bedtime, i switch off
the reading lamp next to my bed, my head hits the pillow
and zap ...
i am gone.

recently, i dropped off whilst driving. not a good idea, might
lead to all sorts of uncomfortable situations. i was lucky,
it was just for an instant and there were no other road users
around. i got such a huge shock, talk about adrenaline
overdrive!

to cut a long story short, the master medics decided it was
time for ...
a drug dosage adjustment!we are talking legal, prescribed
drugs here people ... no really!

which leaves me ... hot damn it! awake at 2.30 in the morning.
awake and aware.
what next?
what a pity i left saltcoats.
sleepless in saltcoats would have made a much better title.

blood ties

yesterday was a fun day. i drove through to dailly.
my son, the new dad, was balancing on a tall and wobbly ladder
washing their front windows.
the south african granny was due to fly into prestwick
in the afternoon.
after a cup of coffee and a ham and cheese roll, michelle
loaded young daniel into his rather oversized (for him anyway!)
car seat and off we drove to saltcoats.
i sat in the back with daniel, in case he fretted, but ...
like me, the boy tends to doze off in the car ;-)
this would be the first time daniel met his five cousins,
joshua, mairin, alaska, liam and savannah.
the latest addition managed to totally ignore this
auspicious occasion and slept right through the introductions
and the honour of being held in wonderment by each and every
cousin! there are photos ... i will try and get them uploaded
to my computer.
coffee and tea for the grown ups, coca cola for the kids and
yummy celebratory fairy cakes made by auntie nikki.
then, off to glasgow prestwick airport to pick up ouma. it
was fantastic to see her face light up at the sight of her
newest grandson!
on my way home i stopped at the chippie in girvan and treated
myself to a fish supper... yum!
family ... who would we be without them ...

breathe shallow

once i wrote of need and want
of love today and tomorrow
my mind burned with an unreal intensity
love was my present and my future
my undeniable reality, i held the dream to me
with an unshakeable belief


today i write little and breathe shallow


Copyright © 2009 by Eryll Oellermann

Daniel

Daniel and his paternal grandmother. oh yeah ... that would be me!





who calls this early?

six fifteen, the phone rings. i know who it is before i answer.

it is time, they are on their way to the hospital.

twelve thirty, the phone rings ... be still my heart, too soon,
just an update.

"i am a daddy!"

my boy is a father, daniel adam has come to stay.

the hospital is in kilmarnock, a little over an hour away.
i drive, i smile, i cry, i sing. i wish that my mann
was with me, to shake his son's hand and cradle daniel in
his arms.

nikki and i meet at the maternity wing entrance. excited?
... beside ourselves!
we finally find our way to michelle's room, she
is so beautiful, surrounded by the serenity of motherhood.
adam looks so tired and yet fit to burst, his bemused,
besotted gaze embraces his wife and their first born.

ah daniel... there you are! so small, just 5lb 13 oz,
small but perfect.
michelle smiles in understanding ...
"hold him" she says.

baby talk

Definitely a capital letter day ...

Welcome to our world Daniel Adam Oellermann!

First born son of Adam and Michelle.

My sixth grandchild!

Born at 12.06, weighing in at 5lb 13oz. Small but fighting fit!

on boobs and burial rituals

i am truly blessed in my children, all three are exceptional...
kind, loving, thoughtful, articulate and intelligent, arrogant and argumentative!
practically perfect!

my boys look out for me, protect me when necessary, keep in touch regularly and envelop me in bear hugs
when we meet. if i have a problem they will offer their advice and find a solution, they have even been
known to offer advice when i was unaware i had a problem!

my daughter, my first born and my best friend.
my daughter is the mother of five loud, loving, demanding, energetic and opinionated children.
they are my grandchildren and therefore ...
without fault!
however, even i have to admit, five children equals a full time job.
my girl still manages to home school one of the five!


tuesday was the "trip to the bank to deposit the cheque" day. i opened my bank account with barclays bank, bicester, when i first arrived in the uk. barclays is big and reliable.
one small problem ...
in scotland, barclays branches are a rare find ...
i do most of my banking over the internet but once a month i need to visit an actual bank building.
the closest barclays is about an hour away in ayr. there is also a branch in saltcoats where my daughter and her family live and that is only another fifteen minutes away. so, bank days when i am heading north i usually treat myself to a mom and daughter day as well.



so ...
there we were, drinking coffee and catching up. i was relating the tale of my latest visit to the doc and excitedly informed her that doc had offered to refer me to glasgow for a breast reconstruction.
for the info of "them as might not be aware" ... i had a bit of a ruckus with breast cancer about fifteen years ago.
for one reason or another i never 'got around' to having a reconstruction.

me ... " i think i might just do it, g says the nhs glasgow breast clinic do excellent work."

nix ... "yeah, why not mom, maybe they can fix your foot at the same time!"

me ... "nah, i think that might be a bit much!"

nix ... "i suppose ..."

me ... "sheit nix, just imagine, i will have forever perky breasts. even when i'm old (er) and
(even more)saggy everywhere else my boobies will still be perfect ... heh. i will be
buried with pert artificial mammary implants"

nix, laughing ...
"ha, ha! i wonder what future archaeologists will have to say when they start uncovering
female human skeletons, buried with silicone cones on their chests?
they will probably come up with some weird and wonderful religious reason for certain
females needing to be buried with silicone cones to accompany them on their journey
into the next world."

hmmm, indeed ...
life is so full of possibilities and improbabilities. i mean, all it would take is one itsy bitsy
major disaster. we might lose our computers, our paper work, our records.
future generations would be left to wonder ... how, why, what for?
who knows, my skeleton might some day be an important archaeological find. news headlines might scream ...
'three thousand year old skeleton found, weighed down with strange man made cones!'

damn! i won't just be having a breast reconstruction, i'll be making history!