I visited my brother at the weekend and saw the kids. They are growing up so fast, I keep wondering where the time goes. I’m gonna have to introduce you to them in private posts. I’m just not comfortable talking about the kids or posting pics of them on my blog, especially since I’m not their mother. If they were mine, I suppose it would be different but it’s not really my decision to make if that makes any sense at all.

My mum is turning sixty this month and you can imagine how delighted she is about that! My dad is going to be semi-retired by the end of the year so both my parents will now be classed as pensioners and they just don’t seem like it! My mum’s started her decorating lark again and bought a new suite for the lounge yesterday. I think Dad’s retirement money is going to be spent before he even gets it. I blame all these DIY shows on the TV because she is always moaning about wanting to change something and never happy when she does change it. My dad’s just learned to go with the flow… Poor guy!

It also seems incredible to me that in a few weeks, it will be a year since we lost Grandma. It really doesn’t feel like a year but in a way it does because I haven’t been able to talk to her in all that time. Okay, that makes no sense at all. I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I miss her like crazy and I think about her everyday. Whenever something happens, I just want to share it with her but have to remind myself I can’t do that anymore. It’s worse on Saturday because we used to spend the afternoons with her and I still feel at a loose end, wondering what to do with myself. Then, I think about all the Saturdays I didn’t go see her and I start to feel guilty because I feel that was precious time I’ve now lost.

My mum’s heading to a funeral tomorrow. One of Grandma’s cousins died suddenly and she was only six years older than my mum. That makes me feel afraid. One day, I’m going to be in the position my mum and her brothers were in last year and I don’t want things to change. I don’t want to lose my family.

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments. I was so excited and relieved yesterday I couldn’t go into much detail. Suffice to say, it has been a horrible week for me and I’m glad it ended on such a positive note. It seemed like I was never going to hear the decision because we’ve been having problems with our head office which was evacuated earlier this week. It’s nothing serious and there are no security issues involved - it’s just a necessary safety precaution out with our control and that’s all I can say. While I understood the issues behind the delay, it still left me with a feelings of frustration and I was seriously beginning to doubt myself because I have been analyzing my interview performance to death since it happened. I was sure I’d blown in because the answers just sounded so bad in my head and there were so many more examples I’d wished I’d used instead.

In light of my previous post and the trouble I’ve been having with a certain member of staff, this promotion was vital to me in more ways than one. I cannot express to you how relieved I am because I really didn’t want to leave. For the first time in my life, I finally feel like I belong somewhere and there is no doubt in my mind that I’m in the right job. I’m proud of what we do and I’m proud to be part of such a unique place. I really don’t want to say more in a public post but I may tell you about our work in a private post some day.

Anyway, to get to the point, the head office issues meant a delay in sending out our official letters and we were finally told verbally on Friday afternoon so we wouldn’t have to wait out the weekend. I was the last person to be told and I was starting to get really nervous but I needn’t have worried. In meantime, word had spread around the whole office about what was happening and some of the people I’ve worked with closely over the past two years, were hanging around reception trying to look discreet and totally failing. Since everyone had been told by that point, I was free to tell them the good news which prompted a lot of squealing and jumping up and down. One girls was actually in tears she was so happy for me and of course that was a great excuse for a group hug! The whole thing just made me feel fuzzy down to my toes.

I did it! I got my promotion!