what i learnt in february

since july of last year i have written a post about what i have learnt each month and have linked with emily freeman at chatting at the sky. in december life was manic so i winged my list, in january it was rushed as life had yet to slow down and here we are in february; life is still too busy for me to fully pay attention. three months on the bounce. 

i was ready to sit down tonight and work though some thoughts on what i learnt in february. on the way back from a manic work day i got stuck in traffic, getting acutely frustrated as i was trying to catch the postal service before its cut off point my phone binged with email, being stationary i read it. it was my subscription mail to emily's place - in her post she implored everyone not to continue to write something just because you said you would if you don't feel it anymore, that in our blogs of all places we have the freedom to choose what we write and what we don't. a smile spread across my face. 

emily gave me permission not to write this post.

i realised earlier in my busy week that if i wanted to write about what i had learnt this month i only had tonight to do it. i also realised i had taken no notes so it would take a bit of thinking about. more than that - i realised i wanted to write it mainly because i have linked up every month with emily since she started hosting the what i learnt link up and i didn't want to miss it, i wanted to keep the record perfect. stupid, right?

but i did learn something this month. 

this month my mum turned seventy. us three kids threw a surprise dinner party for family and an afternoon tea for friends (not on the same day, thankfully). my mum lives in wales, her siblings in scotland and ireland and her children and grandchildren live in england - its safe to say there was a lot of travel involved for most parties. all turned up to show her how much she is loved, from her youngest grandchild of two to our old next door neighbour of ninety-two. it was noisy and at times standing room only in my sisters house but it made all our hard work secret keeping worthwhile to see mum chat with long lost friends, sisters and brothers showing with words and actions that no matter the distance family trumps all and to see the next generation of cousins make their own memories. in short - i saw love in action - it was a beautiful reminder.

as we get older there seem less and less opportunities to see family who live at a distance and increasingly times you do get together are no longer for weddings but funerals. i encourage you to tell the ones close to you that you love them, don't take them for granted, take action. after this weekend i have been reminded how the older generation roll with what many would call good manners - we have received flowers, cards and emails all thanking us for including them in the celebrations and letting us know how much they enjoyed it. something that costs little can mean so much.

so now as the sun has set my thoughts turn to my friend coming over for dinner, to a much needed evening of relaxation and a hope that next month will be a much more restful one than the preceding three, who knows i might even have time to take note of what i learnt again. now i'm going to schedule this post, pour a glass of wine and start cooking dinner - giving myself permission to take the pressure off. thanks emily.

Emma

linking with emily