Monday, so here we are, how was yours? Mine was full of surprises. Today I worked in tandem with my dear friend Alison hunting for talent. Ummm now that can be read many ways but those of you who know what I do, you know that it does not involve binoculars or a raincoat. Just sitting with a few questions and hearing some fascinating facts on which to base future decisions. It was fun, we were in sync on the questions picking up where one left off as smoothly as the smoothest thing that won last years McSmooth competition...if there is such a thing.
As I am talking about being in sync, my breathing for the first time on my run tonight seemed to flow much better. This is the hardest bit for me as a rank amateur - trying to remember all of the things my personal coach/ fitness trainer and all round awesome person Izzy has taught me and continues to advise on from afar.
It was as I was running up hill from Shapwick to Catcott that I started to smile, one of those ones that it takes you a while to realise you are, but when you do you suddenly realise that you can clear a couple of seats on a bus or a train! I was thinking back to the Forbury moment as it shall be known between us. 25th August 2010, we had had a day of zooming round Reading and getting together s'tuff' - another injection, the bike shop - spokes and a shopping list of spares, the opticians for me, the Post Office, Homebase and Staples for tarpaulin, padlock, packaging materials and then the Sweatshop again for me and hence the running now.
The Forbury moment came about after a couple of revelations about electoral registers and permanent addresses needing to be the same or some institutions will not give you any plastic, even for emergencies. We walked up the hill towards the Forbury restaurant where we dined on her last night before her extended holiday. There is an island in the middle of the road on which stood Izzy, and out of her mouth came the 3 words that mean so much. You know what they are and they are pretty powerful. I looked at her for a long while as I digested what she had said. She just stood there looking at me. These are not words used lightly by her at all. Those of you that know her know that the second two words are often used as at the end of a call to a loved one but all 3 one after the other, delivered slowly and deliberately. Wow.
I have never seen shock hit someone as it did then. The next 30 minutes were like she was in suspended animation, chocolate was the absolute necessity of the minute and 2 bars later she sat calmly in Sweatshop helping me buy my first pair of running trainers. The Forbury moment will be a lasting memory for me. She told me it wasn't meant to come out, a bit like we were not supposed to happen after she had laid out her plans for the future and not with me. You cant plan, predict or hope for love, true love just comes like a bolt out of the blue and knocks you for 6 or 12 if you are really really lucky.
I am lucky, lucky to have met Izzy, and more than just lucky to have such awesome children as Em and Nath. I must thank my son Nathan for his straightforwardness of last Wednesday. I rang them on my circuitous route home from Heathrow via Oxford. His first words were ' so she has gone then?' well yep i said she has. 'So are you a bit sad then', yes mate I am. 'Dad, I have got a really big hug for you, but you will have to wait til I see you on Friday'. Thanks Nath I said. Sometimes a hug is all we need. Tonight another person needed more than a hug and a real cuddle so she text me to ask to give her a call.
We spent a while on the phone as she told me how she was feeling. She missed my appreciation of her, my love and my caring. We had been such a unit before last Wednesday and then it stopped. It hasnt as I have said in all my communciation with her, it is just different. I told her she is in my thoughts every second of every day and will be always. I know that she needed just to hear my voice and share her thoughts on the adventure which begins on 2 wheels and a trailer tomorrow. It has been tough getting back into the groove of a friendship after so long. They start tomorrow from the Embassy with their Cambodian visa's at 10.30am (04.30 our time) They will be learning not just how to ride in Vietnam but how they need to colloborate and become a team. It will be a couple of days at least before we get an update as they will be on the road east to their next destination Ha Long Bay on the Tonkin Gulf coast where they will explore the islands for a few days before heading south to Cambodia.
Izzy if you read this before you set out tomorrow morning, ride safe, smile knowing that a lot of people care for you deeply and know that I am thinking of you always. If others are reading this and have yet to donate then now is yet another chance. http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/georginaadey
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