The decision
Back on November 24 of this year, I posted Dilemma and on November 27, the posting was Heartless. Since then, my mind has been in a turmoil in deciding what to do. My heart and good friend, Daniel, said “go”; but my mind kept going over the pros and cons.
On Friday of this week, I read online, via the Scotsman, that there had been heavy rains and flooding throughout Scotland; and, particularly, in the Riverside district of Stirling (my home district) where 60 homes had to be evacuated. Although my health had greatly improved, but still not up to par, I was still giving strong thoughts to going home. The report in the newspaper, however, reminded me of how bad the weather can be and the impact it might be on my health.
So, Friday night, I made the decision not to go to the golden wedding anniversary and planned to call my oldest brother on Saturday to let him know. It should be noted that the reason posted above was not the only one; there were logistics to be considered but the weather was the primary reason. Also, having made the decision, I felt better. It was the right thing to do.
For reasons unknown, I did not call my brother as I had planned. It was not until today, Sunday, that the call was made. My brother was disappointed but did fully understand and was encouraged when I said that a visit was planned for summer when the weather would be better. Again, he offered to subsidize the airfare. A very generous offer.
During my phone call, my brother told me that he had a call from our middle brother, the one about to celebrate his golden wedding. On Friday, our sister-in-law had been at Falkirk hospital where it was determined that she had breast cancer. She was sent home to be admitted on Monday. Yesterday, Saturday, the hospital called to say there was a change of plans and she was to be admitted to Stirling hospital today in the evening.
Now those who read this may wonder why my conversations are with my oldest surviving brother. This may be related to the fact that my deceased brother who had been the oldest, the current oldest brother and I did not and do not have any children and the brother with family has his focus with his children and grand children. Besides, as a frugal Scot, the middle brother makes a toll call to the oldest and knows that I make the interational calls to the oldest very often. LOL
At this date, there are no plans to cancel the celebration at the Inchyra and it is hoped that my sister-in-law will recover well enough to let the celebration go on. By the way, do not confuse the owner of the Inchyra with the Golden Arches. The names are spelled differently. LOL