Winter??? Wonderland

It hardly ever snows here in our little town by the sea. And when it occasionally does, it doesn't sit. Just melts away straight away. But sometimes it snows properly on the surrounding hills.

On Sunday last, snow was forecast for our general area, and, true to form, we got about 43 snowflakes. ...Which immediately disappeared on hitting the ground. The kids were most disappointed. They had seen snow on various TV programmes, but had never seen the real thing. So, when one of my daughters who lives 20 miles away inland told me that it was snowing in her area, I decided that I would take the kids to the highest hill near us and hope for snow.

Naturally, Marie couldn't go.

We struck lucky. Just as we reached the car park at the summit of the hill, it started to snow gently. The children were mesmerised. They had to go for a walk in the snow. So off we went down picturesque forested paths. Suddenly the snow got heavier...and heavier...and it was a blizzard! The children got very excited, but I thought we had better head back to the car.

The blizzard didn't last long, easing off until we were back to gentle snow, but we now had a few inches of snow on the ground - enough for it to crunch beneath our feet. Nearing the car park, there was a clearing and the children began to make (and throw) snowballs. Joseph was disappointed that there wasn't enough snow to make a snowman.

After a while, little hands became cold hands (see the picture below, where Orla is holding up her cold hands for inspection) and it was time to go home.

Once home (still devoid of snow), the children excitedly related to Marie their exploits and experiences. Marie listened wistfully. Just for a moment, the disguised melancholy in her expression became visible.

Sad.

Anxiety Care and self help

By sheer chance I found an article about self help for (all) phobia sufferers a couple of days ago. I thought it might be of use to Marie and showed it to her. She later told me that it was the best thing she’d ever read (in relation to agoraphobia)! If you want to see it too, click here, and I’d be interested to know your opinion of the contents.

Btw, the charitable organisation who run this site are broke, so if you have any spare cash, click here. If you would like to help, but have no spare cash click here.

Monophobia & Agoraphobia

I recently learned a new word – monophobia. It’s not a new word, so I don’t know why I never came across it before, and it’s a useful word for me to use in relation to Marie’s condition. As I’m sure everyone knows, this is the fear of being alone. It sometimes occurs on its own, but mostly it’s an optional (lol) add-on to agoraphobia or social phobia. Marie used to have the extra-special platinum version of this, where she was unable to be anywhere without one of a few safe people: now she has the common-or-gard en platinum version, where she can stay at home alone as long as a safe person can get to her within about 3 minutes. This might not sound like a big improvement, but its repercussions have been vast. No longer do I have to drag “safe” friends/relatives/neighbours away from their families/leisure activities to our home. Now all I have to do is to check that they’re not going out anytime soon, and I (most often accompanied by our kids) can be away, hiking in the hills/paddling in the pool/playing in the park or just shopping in the supermarket. Nor are the benefits one-sided – Marie now gets some time on her own and she can enjoy a little husband and children-free tranquillity.

In other areas, Marie’s situation hasn’t changed from that of recent posts, mainly because she isn’t trying much to make it change. However, her “change is possible” attitude is still with her, and while that’s the case, change is inevitable – even if it’s at a snail’s pace.

There’s still optimism here!