Keeping your eye on the prize…
Hello again. How has your week been so far? I don’t mind
sharing that this week I am struggling. Struggling to balance life, struggling
to sleep, struggling financially and struggling to keep the boys balanced and
healthy.
Parenting
Every other
weekend and once a week he goes to his Dad’s house. Obviously I’d discussed the
health issues with him and explained the new healthy eating and regular
exercise. I thought we were on the same page. Monday evening I went to the
doctors to discuss results. Everything is fine apart from the nose bleeds and
pins and needles that had reappeared on Sunday evening in spite of a couple of
weeks, nearly a month symptom free!
Monday evening
I asked for a list of what he had eaten over the weekend. What I was advised
totally shocked and actually devastated me. I had spent more than six months
worrying about my little boy and had spent time at the doctors and the
specialists at the LGI, who, incidentally, were fantastic. After analysing the
food he had eaten, these were the results. Bearing in mind I have done the
estimations very conservatively.
Fat
|
Sugar
|
Salt
|
|
Recommended
|
35
|
12.6
|
2
|
Friday (1
meal only)
|
110.5
|
86.5
|
3.99
|
Saturday
|
77.4
|
103.2
|
3.666
|
Sunday
|
50.7
|
93.6
|
0.2328
|
I admit I
cried from anger, frustration, disgust and fear. Talk about feeling like a bad mother!!
So the first part of this week and not for the first time, I have educated my son on the importance of healthy eating, not dieting! Some people don’t understand the difference apparently. Ten years ago I would have vehemently opposed any discussion about lifestyle with a child and it certainly is not the responsibility of an eight year old to ensure he is eating properly but when you’re hitting your head against a brick wall, you eventually have to try a new direction.
So the first part of this week and not for the first time, I have educated my son on the importance of healthy eating, not dieting! Some people don’t understand the difference apparently. Ten years ago I would have vehemently opposed any discussion about lifestyle with a child and it certainly is not the responsibility of an eight year old to ensure he is eating properly but when you’re hitting your head against a brick wall, you eventually have to try a new direction.
I highlight
this only to demonstrate the risks children face and in spite of me watching
what he eats and how he lives his life, his health was at risk. I feel like the Gestapo! I am not popular at the moment but it has to
be done to prevent serious illness. I guess the biggest lesson is don’t give up
on your instincts. Apparently I am a nag – guess what? This nag is not
stopping!! Let’s hope this is the end the bouts of illness but it won’t be the
end of the worrying - that lasts a lifetime. The other lesson is – giving life lessons
to children does not let up. It’s been an uncomfortable start to the week but some
issues can’t be ignored. Days like this I know I am very much on my own,
swimming against the tide or in my case... a blooming tsunami!
Obviously this
has distracted me from work but if it saves him from long term illness, it is
worth it.
Rugby League
Still, I think
it was worth the journey. Thirteen young, rising stars competed, and I mean
competed, against seventeen GROWN men, sixteen after one of the men decided he
would stamp on Wes. Although they narrowly lost 14-16 to last year’s league
winners, they all worked hard and did the club and themselves really proud.
This weekend we travel to Gloucester after spending Tuesday night watching the
reserves at the Dewsbury Rams. That is Saturday taken care of and Sunday Lucas
has a football tournament.
It looks like
5am starts for me for the foreseeable future just to fit everything in. It is a
good job I can work anytime, anywhere – is it too early for Martini?? (if you
was not alive in the 1980s you may not get this!)
Writing
I am editing
my next book, have started another but the biggest work has been on the PhD proposal
revisions and scriptwriting. The latter is something I have wanted to try for a
while and two of my current stories are developing more for the screen than a
book but I wouldn’t rule out the latter!! The way I roll, I suppose!
I am looking
forward to the day when I am earning some money from writing so I can employ
someone to help me. For now though, I have accepted that writing and following
my new career path is my second priority behind my children. I put myself under
so much pressure to do everything I need to do. I won’t give up in spite of the
lack of support from people. It is not being deluded or stubborn, it is being a
human being who refuses to accept the ‘norm’ and give up on what is right for
my little family.
Introducing you to Beyond the Past
The book is set in Yorkshire featuring local cities and towns - Leeds, Harrogate, York and Wetherby and centres around rugby league.
Main Characters
Annie
Swift - Elegant, funny and very strong.
Mum of two rising stars in rugby league.
Mark
Smith - Ex professional rugby league
player, now a pundit on television and radio.
Matt
Swift - Annie's eldest son, plays rugby
league professionally for Leeds.
Ed
Swift-Brown - Just
breaking into professional rugby league, Ed is on loan to London then signs for
Leeds to realise his ultimate ambition of playing alongside his big brother.
Garry
Pearce - Mark's best friend. Played rugby
league together from amateur under 8s to professionally for Wigan and Great
Britain.
Louisa
Smith -Mark's ex wife and mother to
their only child Sophie.
DCI Harry
Fisher -Senior Investigating Officer in
the case.
DS
Phillipa Davies -Mother of
two children, Phillipa is very bright. Harry specifically asks for her to be
assigned to the case not just for professional reasons.
Andrea
Collins - Annie's Mum and confidante.
Charles
Collins -Annie's father and Matt and Ed's
hero.
Opening pages
Just past the Halifax junction on
the M62, Mark Smith noticed a car tailing him. It had been there for about
three miles. After recent events, he changed lanes a few times, the car
followed. Annie sensed his anxiety and watched him cautiously looking through
his mirror. Suddenly the car overtook them and lingered at their side. Mark
looked across to see the driver but the tinted windows prevented any
identification. He slowed down, the car slowed down. The cat and mouse antics
went on for a couple of miles.
"Annie! Ed! Keep your wits
about you. Annie ring Harry and let him know. When I slow down see if one of
you can get the registration number," Mark instructed.
Annie's heart was pounding but
she was more concerned she had one of her precious boys with them. Ed wasn't at
all fazed. He was watching Mark intensely. Mark braked suddenly and the car
skidded to the left. It was enough for Ed to take a note of the registration
number. However, the car slowed down and pulled in front of them. Mark was
forced to brake hard to avoid a collision.
Annie Swift's life flashed before
her eyes. She'd not had an easy life; her first marriage was violent and the
only good thing to come out of it all was her eldest son, Matt. Oh God! Matt
she thought. He was on the verge of re-signing a contract to play Rugby League
for his home town, the club she had supported as a child with her grandpa. She
didn't want her life to end now! Her mum and dad needed her, her boys needed
her and most of all she'd finally met someone she could grow old with, who
loved her unconditionally and made her happy at last. Life had been cruel but
it was worth the heartache to have such beautiful boys and now a new partner.
She had come through so much and was finally in a good place in her life. It
was inconceivable it could end now.
"Shit!" Mark shouted as
he swerved out to the middle lane. As he tried to overtake the car, it too
increased its speed. Then, without warning the pursuer swerved into the middle
lane, again Mark's defensive driving avoided contact but this was getting
really scary. Annie was shouting down the phone to DCI Harry Fisher.
Ed turned to Mark. "Mark
keep calm you are doing great. I think we should try and get off the motorway
at the next exit."
Annie interrupted, "Harry
suggested that too. I am going to put the phone on loudspeaker so we can tell
him what's happening."
Just as she said this, Mark
managed to manoeuvre past the car. He was an ex professional rugby player, not
a racing driver' He put his foot down and was doing ninety-five mph when the
car came right up behind him. There was no getting away from it. Mark was
shaking but was trying his best to get them out of trouble.
"The next junction, junction
twenty-four, is coming up. I'm going to let him pass us and then slip off the
motorway."
DCI Fisher's voice bellowed,
"Mark, listen to me, do not do anything stupid! Stay within the law, we
will be there shortly. The motorway police are three minutes away and the
helicopter five. Stay calm but do not, I repeat do not speed."
Mark realised it was stupid
trying to outrun the car. The shaking subsided a little as he reduced his speed
to seventy. The car overtook him again but this time re-joined his lane and
slammed on again in front of him. Annie and Ed screamed and Annie lifted her
hands to her face. Mark swerved again and braked but it was not enough. The
passenger side front wing clipped the rear of the car in front. It spun the BMW
out of control and into the central reservation. The airbags activated.
For what seemed an eternity the
three of them said nothing. Annie could hear the faint sirens of the emergency
vehicles. The searing pain from her leg was unbearable.
"Mum!, Mum you okay?"
She recognised Ed's voice.
She tried to speak but the words
wouldn't come out. She nodded but wasn't sure if her head actually moved. The
pain was taking over, it was so, so intense. She could hear Ed and Mark's voice
and a strange distant voice calling her name, she recognised it was Harry but
couldn't understand why he was there. She passed out.
Ed and Mark walked out of the
mangled mess and sat in an ambulance close by. Both shocked,
Ed had a small cut
on his left cheek and on his hand where a splinter of glass had hit him. It
seemed a very strange situation to him. He was sitting calmly in an ambulance
whilst the scene outside was pandemonium. None of it seemed real. It resembled
a scene from a Bruce Willis blockbuster.
Read the first three chapters FREE on my website
Available from:
Pegasus Publishers
Amazon UK
Kindle
Amazon US
Or you can order from your local bookshop. The ISBN number is : 978-1-84386-789-0
Have a great week everyone
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