I got the job!

It’s been another plate-spinning fortnight, but guess what?

Some of those plates have now been spun into their rightful place and things are looking good.

My first piece of news is that I got the job!! I am now a very proud Band 6 nurse!
Steve called me (eventually) to give me the news. The rumours were right, there were two posts and I got one of them! Steve told me that the other successful candidate was pretty much the opposite of me in that she was quiet, steady and sensible. If I hadn’t been so ecstatic, I might have felt a bit insulted but as it was, all I felt was complete elation. I rang Carla as soon as I got off the phone to Steve and she couldn’t do anything but scream! I honestly couldn’t have done this without the encouragement, support and belief of both Steve and Carla.

My second piece of news is that the wedding plans are almost complete; everything has been ordered or arranged. Ironically, the only thing to buy now is the Dragon Mother’s outfit. As you would expect, she bought ‘the perfect outfit’ the day after we announced the date, but since then she’s piled on the pounds. I think it’s since the kerfuffle with Dad, when she left him and moved in with us.

That lasted all of 2 days before I called Dad and told him to fetch her. It’s amazing how much chaos one person can cause in less than 48 hours. To start with, her suitcase wasn’t full of clothes, it was full of kitchen equipment including a full crockery set and her vegetable knife (shame we didn’t have any vegetables). Our funky square plates were relegated to the spare room and her willow-pattern 100 year old plates took pride of place in our kitchen. That wasn’t the worst though – because she hadn’t brought any clothes with her she thought she could just wear ours! Seeing my mother fannying around in the kitchen dressed in Matt’s joggers and my sports bra was beyond funny – I thought I was going to crack a rib laughing!!

The final straw though nearly tipped me over the edge. I came home from work to find that she’d clingfilmed herself to the bloody kitchen chair. She’d read somewhere that she could lose the excess pounds if she wrapped herself in plastic and sweated it out. Problem was, her balance isn’t great so she’d sat down to do the deed and inadvertently tied herself to the chair. I won’t lie – I left her there while I packed her gruesome plates back into her case and called my Dad. In fact, I left her there til Dad arrived and let him deal with her. He was his usual stoic self and simply said ‘I’ll see you on Sunday for your dinner – beef this week’ as he bundled her into the car.

So it’s all going well at the minute and I’m counting my blessings.

 Which is more than I can say for Matt. He’s become really quiet of late and I don’t quite know how to help him. I know it’s not us; he’s really excited about the wedding and keeps telling me that he can’t wait for me to be his wife.

So if it’s not me, it’s either my Mother or work, and given he’s had his joggers back, I reckon it must be work.

Matt is so supportive of my work dramas, but if I’m honest I can’t say that I truly return the favour (I’m gonna be a shit wife). He just seems to go and get on with it but even I’ve noticed it’s starting to get him down. He’s due to revalidate in a couple of months and he’s been really particular about making sure his portfolio is up to date. He’s done his reflective accounts, but when I asked to read them, he quickly logged off. Very unlike him.

I’ve tried asking him about work but he always says it’s all fine and distracts me by getting me to update him on the wedding plans. I hate to think of him struggling though, and just wish he would share a little with me.

So, I don’t really know what to do for the best….do I push it or do I wait til he’s ready to talk?

Help – anyone??