A WET FRIDAY AND SNOW ON SATURDAY

15th and 16th October 2010

We had a barrage of continuous rain falling steadily overnight and the grey, thick,  heavy clouds appeared to be ready to dispose of their abundant load throughout Friday.  As anyone with any sort of bone or muscles complaints knows when it is damp and cool the condition becomes worse and my body felt just like the dogs breakfast a total mess.  I ached, it hurt to move and the pain caused me to feel miserable, yet I knew I had to go to school. 

The rain was accompanied by arctic winds that whipped and swirled around my umbrella that I was attempting to keep myself dry with on our journey to school.  The wheelchair went through deep puddles of water along the footpath and it was a day that you could easily have just given up and stayed in the warmth of home.

We entered the classroom a little wet and cold but we were able to warm up as the classroom was much warmer than outside.  We had Integrated Studies first and were doing a Quiz on Government, we were put into groups and Mum was told that she could not assist our group.  We did extremely well and ended up coming second overall.  I realised afterwards that I should have had the group use my FM Transmitter so that I could hear what they were discussing more clearly but it does take just a little time to set up and the questions had already started to be asked. 

After the Quiz we had double Science, our lesson was in the Library and the Computer Room because we were given our assessment task which is also due in Week 4, the same as our Integrated Studies one on Raising Awareness.  We were able to choose which topic we wanted to do our assessment on and then researched it in books and on the computers.  A really strange thing happened to the computer and three others around me when I was using one, it totally blanked out and so did the other three, no one else's in the room did, it was really weird and the teacher had no explanation for it either. 

I was so pleased it was time to leave school and go home because it was too wet and cold, my pain was becoming worse and I just wanted to be able to warm myself up.  The wind had increased and I could not find the best way to hold my umbrella to prevent myself from getting wet, I ended up with extremely wet legs and feet, I had to be dried off and changed when we arrived home.  A lovely hot chocolate warmed my inside up and we turned the heating on to warm our body on the outside. 

I did some reading, had a rest , took photographs of my Christmas Bear for a collage and dressed my Barbie dolls.  I was so pleased to be warm and dry, unfortunately my pain did not ease much during the day even with the heating on, heat packs and pain killers, I guess sometimes when the weather is the culprit there is not too much you can do, you have to just grin and bear it which I am quite expert at doing.

My night was plagued with pain and discomfort, I woke several times throughout the night and early hours of the morning, then I slept in until 8.30am which is unusual for me. I felt a little nauseous upon waking probably from lack of sleep.  Mum came and got me and told me she had something special to show me, she took me to our family room window and there outside were soft, delicate flakes of snow falling from the sky, some had settled under the trees in our back garden but most were melting once they touched the ground.  It was a Winter wonderland and I was totally in awe of what I saw, snow falling is so exquisite.  The weather was freezing so I did some reading, learnt Baa Baa Black Sheep on guitar and typed a Christmas list. 

Fortunately as the day progressed my nausea improved, I wish my pain would do the same, but because it was so cold my pain had remained fairly intense throughout the entire day.  Jarrett had Interclub which is the Summer Competition of Athletics, it was on in the evening, we all had to rug up as if we were going to the snow; gloves, beanies, scarfs and jackets.  Jarrett ran in the 800m first, he was in the second heat, it was a curved line start, the gun went off, the runners took off but Jarrett slipped on the starting line and was coming last, however around the first bend he had fired and took the lead which he held until the finish to come first. After I saw him fall I willed him to do well, I was even almost running with him, I was moving my legs up and down in my seat in the Grandstand.   While Jarrett was running Nalani was working as an Official, firstly she was on Shot put doing the recording and then on Javelin which she collected the Javelins to take back to the competitors.  Jarrett ran the last event of the evening which was the 3000m that is seven laps of the track and they start at the 200m mark.  This time Jarrett had a good start and was running up with the elite runners in the first few laps, he ran a terrific race to be the first Junior runner across the line and he had no asthma or vocal chord problems although he said he had to use one of his breathing techniques half way through and it worked. 

We came home for a hot chocolate and to snuggle into our lovely warm beds, it had been cold at the AIS but we were sheltered from the winds in the Grandstand so it was not as harsh as it was if you were out on the track.  My feet had got a little cold though even with thick socks and enclosed shoes and my ankle and heel throbbed in bed, so Mum gave me a heat pack which made a huge difference and I eventually fell asleep.

'Never give up, keep racing your race because those that love you will always be there gently lifting you and  pushing you along'