Looking forward to the next few months?

warmer weather

I'm looking forward to the Spring/Summer and the garden. Started growing more fruit and veg in lockdown. I will keep that going for as long as I'm physically able to.

I will finally get my state pension. Six years late, but we have a nice bottles of the English sparkling ready for the occasion. I will remember all those I've known, family, and friends (far too many of my old classmates) who didn't live long enough. Two girls from my class at junior school died last year. Both struggling with poorly paid jobs they hated getting out of bed for.

We have another family wedding in the summer. It will be lovely to meet up with the wider family again. No holidays planned. The DGC are growing up fast and the time we can spend with them is more important to us.

💐Lucca. In my prayers every night.
Before I read your post I was going to post this anyway:
There must be many GNs who are ill, alone or caring for others and many who for financial or other reasons are just getting by from one day to the next who have nothing to look forward to. This thread must be upsetting for them.

Oh Shep, you’re so right.

My circumstances are very comfortable in some respects, but I’m actually struggling to think of anything that I’m looking forward to.

I’d like to go away to a lodge in the countryside in the Spring, but I don’t know if it will be possible.

I’m desperate to move closer to my dad, who isn’t getting any younger. I’d like to be looking forward to that, but it’s just not viable at the moment.

I’m not saying this for sympathy, I’m using it as an example of how so many of us are living day to day, just muddling through in lots of ways.

So if you are reading this, feeling there is nothing to look forward to, you are not alone.

It reminds me of the wisest thing I’ve ever been told, something along the lines of, ‘don’t compare your inside to other people’s outside’.
(I hope that makes sense)

Don’t get me wrong, Henetha, it’s still a lovely thread x

Germanshepherdsmum

💐Lucca. In my prayers every night.
Before I read your post I was going to post this anyway:
There must be many GNs who are ill, alone or caring for others and many who for financial or other reasons are just getting by from one day to the next who have nothing to look forward to. This thread must be upsetting for them.

GSM, What a thoughtful post.
I do get pleasure from reading about everyone's plans. I also do get a little envious and sometimes sad, especially as I will never see my beloved Rome again.
However, for me, there has become a level of acceptance and the mindset to enjoy the small things.
I rarely make plans, consequently there will be no cause to feel disappointed, if things are cancelled.

There is no need for anyone to feel reluctant to post, for fear of upsetting anyone.

This is a tough one - I was thinking about this as I was writing.

But then we must never write about the new baby in the family, the lovely flowers in the garden, the puppy we have adopted, the love we have for OH, the enjoyment of a walk in the woods...

And yes, my heart goes out to those, who, for whatever reason, cannot think of anything to look forward to.

I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time in Portugal
this year, in fact I’m going out this week for a few days,
lucky me, I yearn for sunshine😀

My heart goes out to those people too. I realise not everyone is tiptoeing through the tulips. I am one of them but I thought I'd join in a happy thread for once.

We are lucky to be able to go away; at least we have no health or financial worries. DH has two trips planned with his cycling buddies - one in May, one in June. For me that's better than a holiday - a few days alone at home with no mealtimes to keep to, sleeping with the shutters and windows wide open, I can eat meat and am generally able to do what I like.

In July our three sons are taking him on a canoeing trip which they promised him for his 70th birthday (which was literally days before the first lockdown in Feb/March 2020.)

This thread has prompted me to make some proper holiday plans for both of us though. Somewhere not too far, although I would love to see the sea again. It's 1000 km in any direction from here - North Sea, Baltic, Mediterranean or Atlantic.

I think the main highlights of 2023 will be watching the grandchildren grow and develop. We have five aged between 0 and 8 years - the best time!

I feel unsettled about starting this thread as I now realise that there are some people for whom looking forward is very difficult indeed. To those people I send my heartfelt good wishes and the fervent hope that somehow things can get better, but if they cannot then I hope you can find peace.

henetha. It's a lovely thread. We can't not post in case it upsets someone, unless posts are deliberately upsetting. I suffer with depression and anxiety and have trouble looking forward to anything. Your thread made me feel more optimistic.

Such kind words, Kate1949. Thank you, and many good wishes to you for better things to come.

I have two holidays booked for this year, one in Angus and one in Yorkshire and I may be travelling to DD's in Brussels.
In April I am going to a concert, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Nicola Benedetti and Benjamin Grosvenor are playing, really looking forward to that.

Thank you henetha. You too.

I always try to have something in my diary to look forward to.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be something big or expensive just something that will bring me joy and different from my day to day life.

(((Hugs))) to all with sadness or illness 🌸🌸🌸🌸

I too live vicariously on this site and enjoy the wider world it brings. Struggling to look forward at the moment but know the solution is in my own hands and I need to start suggesting things rather than waiting for others to include me in their plans. I have never been like this before so it is a bit of a struggle, but knowing that other people are living life rather than watching it go past is really helpful.

My big treat from my daughter finally comes in March this year, barring any disasters. We had covid and the Russian invasion to thank for the last 2 postponements of Swan Lake.

It's in Edinburgh so i expect there will be some nice food along the way.

In the short term I have some beautiful pot grown spring bulbs to plant out and brighten up a corner of the garden.
All nice to start the new year as I venture on life as a single woman again.

Kadinsky I feel just the same. I still miss the family life when the children were young and I had so much energy. My GS is grown up now and how I miss the little boy that he was. All the really good stuff is in the past. Now I am of course extremely grateful for what I have but I don't get excited about anything any more. It's a shame.

Don’t have much planned but you all have inspired me!

I am going to see the Knossos exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford, meeting my new great niece the next day and going to a 70th birthday party the same day. Donatello at the V and A in February, Bologna (for the Book Fair) and Amsterdam (for the Vermeer exhibition) in March ... so much to look forward to! I tend not to look back.

Oh that's so sad Kandinsky my children are grown up and I have grandchildren but I am very involved in my community, run a few art holidays, go life drawing, walking etc and am always looking forward to planning the next adventure, I'm only 66 but hope to continue like this, boredom has always been banned in my house, if I ever felt it coming on I'd do something about it! Life is too short to be bored!

I hope to celebrate my hundredth birthday in May and look forward to my fifth great grandchild in April but lately feel lucky to wake up each morning although life is painful and tedious.

Congratulations Bijou. How fantastic.

-Warmer weather and more light
-Having a walk with the DD and the one week old newborn DGD when she is a little older
-Going to Devon and walking on the Cobb at Lyme
Planting out my pots and watching the flowers grow
-Birthdays, Mother's and Father's Days, Easter, Whitsun and other high days and holidays
-Being able to get fitter after this cold weather recedes a bit
-Resuming life after winter hibernation and worrying about the DD's difficult pregnancy
-All sorts and everything

I’m looking forward to warmer weather (and a reduction in heating bills as a result!) As a dog lover, I’m looking forward to Crufts. I shall be watching every minute of the action on TV with my elderly dog. When I lived near Birmingham I went every year for about 20 years; when my current dog is no longer with me (which I hope won’t be for quite some time to come) I hope to go again and treat myself to an overnight stay or two. I’m also looking forward to a bit of spring cleaning - the patio needs doing - and tidying my garden so that I can enjoy being out there once it’s warm enough to do so. I’ve just started an Open University course and have my first tutorial tomorrow evening - looking forward to that. I expect that at 65, I’ll be the oldest student! In the longer term, I’m looking forward to travelling again. I’ve been watching Robson Green‘s series on weekend escapes and there are a few places I’d like to visit. Oh, and there can never be enough newly published books to look forward to reading!