My Dad's home

It's been eventful week. On Monday I flew to Melbourne to present at a national public relations conference. I hosted a breakfast session, sharing thoughts on commerical best practice in the Australian industry. We had about 70 people attend. Feedback afterwards was very flattering; some kindly described it as the best session they'd attended.

My post-event high was dampened by news that my father had been rushed to hospital after collapsing at home. This is second such incident in a month. Fortunately, on both occasions he'd just become very dehydrated, and nothing worse.

As I've mentioned in a recent post, I'd already scheduled a brief trip to New Zealand to see my parents this week. The timing proved very fortuitous as my father came home from hospital shortly before my flight landed in Tauranga, New Zealand.

 

By pure chance my flight was unexpectedly delayed long enough for Mum to take Dad home before heading off to the airport to collect me.  The delay was caused by Mount Tongariro erupting without warning two hours earlier.  The resulting ash cloud temporarily closed flight paths across the central North Island.  The photo of Mount Ruapheu, above, was taken on my return flight.

 

Ultimately, my trip proved well timed as it was clear my parents needed help getting back into a routine. Each hospital visit creates an unfortunate cascade of neglected chores and life activities. As a result I've been busy cooking meals, buying pantry supplies and sitting with Dad while Mum pops out to attend to personal needs.

As the future become uncertain we're increasingly grateful for the simplest of pleasures. For example, my father's happy to be back home, sitting in the sun's daily warmth. As you can see from the photo above magnificant Mount Maunganui simply sparkled in today's sunshine. For now, that's all that really matters.