Monday morning shop
I woke up yesterday feeling quite energised. I was well aware of my calendar ahead with busy slots marked on it. I thought, why not do my Christmas shopping this morning. These days I have to pace myself. I think my heart condition has returned. I am not as sick as I was the previous two times I had it, but I am definitely not as well as I was three years ago, for example. I find I can still do things in the mornings, but by afternoon I am usually lying on the couch and any excursion one day, needs another to recuperate. Whilst I know I have plenty of time before Christmas, I am aware that my energy levels might not always allow me to utilise that time.
And so, I headed off to do my shopping. The morning was quiet and it was a pleasant experience as I went from shop to shop. I surprised myself with the ease at which I did things. I ran into an old friend and we exchanged news of our families and again a couple of hours later. She asked if I was going to have a coffee. By this stage, with still a few more gifts to buy, I declined, as I knew if I stopped, I wouldn’t have the energy to continue and I still had the drive home to negotiate. But I immediately regretted that decision. I would have loved to have sat down with Tania and had a proper catch up. She wasn’t just any old friend. Tania and I first met when we moved to nearby locations back in the 1980s. Paul, my ex, and I, had bought a farm and Tania and her husband had done the same and were living about three quarters of an hour away. Paul’s sister-in-law had met Tania years earlier when she boarded with her sister, so, while up staying with us, they suggested we invite the couple over for dinner. Our friendship continued and we’d meet up to watch rugby games or at the local A and P show. Children followed for us both and they got along well, too. Our oldest are both 40 now. Paul ended up shearing for her husband as he had a three-man gang, servicing the district. Our lives were intertwined in many ways. Then Paul and I moved down country as Paul wanted to shear full-time. Four years later we were back, though in a different area, this time a little further away. It was these friends who helped us unload our belongings.
We didn’t see that much of Tania while living in this location, but both of our oldest children ended up at boarding school in Whangarei. After I left Paul, I hardly saw them. I am probably living about an hour and a half away now. I have visited once. When Daniel died, these two were some of the first to visit me. Not only that, but they brought a lamb, the best meat I had ever tasted. When I commented to Tania about how good it was, she replied that it jolly well should have been. They had given me their best meat, an animal that they would have been looking forward to eating themselves. That says a lot about the type of people and friends they were.
I have met many people like Tania throughout my life. I have moved a lot and not been very good at staying in touch with these people. But the friendships have been solid, so that when we do meet, we can carry on where we left off. I will either phone Tania, or Stephen and I will pay them a visit. We have shared too much just to let the friendship dwindle.
I hope Tania understood yesterday when I declined the invitation for coffee. As it was, I barely made it home. But maybe I should have said to myself that I could do the rest of the shopping another day and had the coffee instead. It would have been nice spending some time together.
I will definitely make sure we go and visit them.