One cheque cleared one arrived in Ireland.

We had a lovely, if tiring, weekend in Salford and Manchester to celebrate Philip's 37th birthday.
I think this was the first time we were all together and we did not talk about dad.
Philip did show me the card his cheque came in and that was lovely.

I am back at work and enjoying it although I find it much more tiring. I think it will take a while to get up to speed again after a six week break.
The cheque in Santander cleared yesterday and today I paid off all our debt to Phil and that felt so good.
In the autumn we will get Seoidin finished for John and that will be great.
I have lots of ideas for Castlenel,small things that will make a difference to our lives there ,and ease the amount of work before and after renting.
I have some suggestions to ease and share the work of the M&C in September too.

The other cheque has arrived in Ennis but will not be cleared for up to two weeks.

Connie,a great woman in the bank, will terminate a loan I have there, and send a cheque to Louis at the credit union, when the money is available.In one fell swoop,no debts.

Dad cannot possible know what a difference this money has made to our lives.

Soon to be debt free, off benefits,and not so much pressure to work.

I still want to work and we still need a bit more income than our pensions,but nothing like what I needed before.

I have already given my clients a handout with all the dates of my times off, between now and February 1st 2013.This feels very good.

I am away again to Spain in June for a week, I have almost all of September off ,and another week in October,then I stop from December 21st till January 28th.

I would like to catch up with my step children and grandchildren this year, and with Tony and Andrea,and Anne and Henry. because I have spent so much time travelling to Glasgow for the last two years. I have missed seeing a lot of people.

I have so many invitations to visit County Clare, and I would love to do that.

Ten years of Compass Clare has come and gone and there have been great growth in those years.
I would have liked to have gone to that celebration in some ways and in other ways maybe not
We have all moved on and it was better for them to celebrate without us.

So dear dad, your legacy to me has been a huge benefit to both of us,and to La Comparsa too.
I am feeling stronger now,not so easily in tears and the pain is much less on a daily basis.

Sometimes I get taken by surprise when something brings me back to the acute sense of loss.I think I will always have that.
 Like you pa ,I am strong and I am a survivor.Something I know you admired about me,with all the ups and downs in my life. I always came up optimistic and made the best of what was there instead of wishing things were different.

I am like you in that I think.

John says you will never be really gone while I am here ,because especially when I am not happy about something ,he can see you looking out at him. I like that.

Anyway pa, thanks again,you are a star.