It all began with the NRC interview and the subsequent 50 (70 by now) emails about it, plus an additional few written replies. Many old acquaintances responded, some of them from unexpected people. I love that. Complete strangers send me words of encouragement, poems, reviews, etc. Responding to all of my mail is a lot of work. I decided to publish my March diary early, because my brother-in-law (the webmaster) is expecting a child and he probably doesn\u2019t have time. On Tuesday, my regular help Marja was absent and Hein was home, as well as my mother and father-in-law Kees. My day was messy. To pile more on, my GP diagnosed an ingrown toenail with a lot of fibroma, which had to be removed. On Thursday we left for the hospital, where I was immediately \u201coperated\u201d on, which was a relief. It took 10 minutes at most and the most painful part was the anaesthesia. I won\u2019t be able to wear a shoe for a while, making standing up difficult and using the bathroom quite the adventure. Hein stayed home for two days. He is the only one who, no matter the circumstances, knows how to support me when I stand and, more importantly, catch me when I fall. On Saturday, the bandages came off and I could finally wear my shoe again. The pain is minimal, but I\u2019d much rather it didn\u2019t hurt at all. From 5 o\u2019clock until nighttime on Friday, we were fixed to our television screen, not wanting to miss anything about our Alex and Maxima (the wedding of prince Willem-Alexander and princess Maxima). On Saturday the 31st of March I celebrated my birthday, and my niece Hanna was born. That evening we had a bridge drive with 12 friends. We had a good time. Floor and her friend Maartje waitressed like professionals: \u201cone Sisi and a red wine for table one\u201d. We have three tables, but only played eight games to leave plenty of time for chitchat. The awards ceremony was hilarious as ever, we allowed the winners to claim old Easter junk as their prizes. On Sunday afternoon, the family and a couple of friends came over for drinks. There were fewer people than I had hoped, because I had to postpone the party at the last minute and some people couldn\u2019t reschedule. Despite the thinner company, we still had fun. All I want now is a normal week with good weather, so I can enjoy all of my new garden stuff. <\/p>\n
I receive a lot of mail from men. At least, it seems that way. After opening, all of these Jeroens, Pauls, Harrys, etc. are actually women, with different names. While I do faithfully correspond with a few men, most people who write me are female. Sometimes, a \u201cmale\u201d email address is confusing, because the female writers don\u2019t introduce themselves at the start of the mail, making me doubtful of the author\u2019s gender until the end. Ladies, please get your own email addresses. It\u2019s so easy.<\/p>\n
By now, all of my drinks are help up for me; if possible, the cups are resting on my stomach at about the same height as my PEG. No problems so far. That is, whenever people actually hold it at a consistent height. All arms tend to fall back down, be it from exhaustion, distraction or gravity. Because of that, my straw no longer rests on the bottom of the cup, causing it to slip out of my mouth. I don\u2019t have any power in my lips. Repeatedly, I gesture \u201cup, up\u201d, which isn\u2019t always understood by my helpers. The biggest obstacle is toward the end of drinking. The cup has to be held askew to get the last drops, but my straw also has to be in the drink too. It\u2019s a difficult game of balance for the helper, to varying degrees of success. To close it off, I burp loudly, like a baby after it had its bottle. Everyone just laughs about these \u201cnot done\u201d burps, and so do I. Apparently, I swallow too much air when I drink nowadays. <\/p>\n
Floor had a show at her school this week, which is not wheelchair-accessible. It posed a problem, now that I was in a heavier wheelchair. Hein worried about ways to get me into the school long beforehand, while I thought \u201cit\u2019ll be fine\u201d. It\u2019s the usual division of roles. Just to be sure, we brought my light wheelchair, but I hadn\u2019t used it for 6 months. We arrived at the school well in advance. In my heavy wheelchair, I was carried into the school by four men. Thus, I was able to fulfill my motherly duties and able to hear Floor sing as a soloist, while royally seated at the front. Anyway, the school was very helpful. Glad to know that this can work, because Floor has another show in June. The third one in a short time. Maybe a bit overkill, but she enjoys it nonetheless. <\/p>\n
The World Access server was down for a while, so a the end of the month I didn\u2019t have any data about who was visiting my homepage. By now, I do. In 2001, the amount of monthly hits has doubled, from 1500 to 3000. My book and the interview helped, of course. The book is still selling well. By now, I\u2019ve sold 250 copies. I\u2019ve started selling them myself, mostly through others, because I\u2019m more tempted to hand them out for free. My absolute top salesperson is my mother-in-law with almost 20 books sold, followed by my friend Tineke with 10 copies. My mother rather acted as a library, lending her copy out. <\/p>\n
Ward has to write an essay. He\u2019s chosen the subject \u2018Tornados\u2019. I don\u2019t know why, but I had the feeling that Ward didn\u2019t need any help writing it. Purposefully, he collected his stuff and went to work one and a half months beforehand. A polar opposite of Floor, who always starts way too late and whom I\u2019ve always helped out. Because Ward wasn\u2019t making much headway, I offered my help. To my surprise, he immediately accepted. Ward had started by writing the last chapter, which made a lot of what he\u2019d written more relevant in other chapters. After an initial fight about the chapter arrangement, we\u2019ve been pleasantly working on chapters every afternoon. Ward is obviously pleased and we\u2019re writing chronologically now. We\u2019re both satisfied with the results. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a while since our last Sunday trip. The weather is not being cooperative. Thus, we stayed at home, to the delight of the kids, who were tired of hiking and museums. On the past few Sundays, the TV was on all day, on the sports channel. Springtime cycling: the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix; the Hell of the North. It reminded me of back in the day, not going outside on Sunday, reading the newspaper in front of the TV and spending the day in a stupor. Or even before that; listening to the sports programmes on the radio. I\u2019m getting to like this \u201cdoing nothing\u201d, while the rain softly taps the window. I worked on a few History chapters with Floor while Ward finished his essay. Hein constructed a cabinet and put a painting up. Of course, we hunted for easter eggs too. <\/p>\n
Floor gave me the latest Anouk CD for my birthday. I enjoy it immensely. It\u2019s fairly aggressive music, interspersed by more soft-spoken songs. Before, I would have sang along with the music and dance. Not anymore. I listen to the music like a sack of potatoes, but in my mind, I am free and I dance and scream yell my lungs out. Included in the album was a DVD containing all of her music videos. I can play it on my computer. Hell of a girl, even she could do without those golden teeth. <\/p>\n
I don\u2019t enjoy car rides anymore. I\u2019m sat in the back of the car in my wheelchair and bob along to every bump in the road, of which there are a lot. My head flails to and fro, like it\u2019s not even attached to my body. There are even bumps that launch me 10 cm into the air. Those are etched into my mind, so the next time we pass it, I can give ample warnings beforehand. They are not heeded, by the way. After passing the dreaded bump, Hein parks the car and asks me what\u2019s the matter. Tonight, we\u2019re going to see if I can properly sit in a normal car. I can\u2019t in our van, because the backrest of the passenger seat is too straight. It would be ideal for our trip to France. That is, if my head is up to the task. The test drive was successful. My head was fine and the suspension was good. I\u2019ll be going to France, seated in the passenger\u2019s seat of a normal car. <\/p>\n
In the first weeks after the interview I had truckloads of mail to get through. I had to merely switch on the PC and correspondence flooded in. I loved it. This week marks the end of that. There are days on which I don\u2019t receive any mail at all. I didn\u2019t realize that publicity and the attention that comes with it could become so addicting. Luckily, I got some more mail later.<\/p>\n
Floor recently got her own email address at Hotmail. Immediately after school, she bolts for the computer to see if she got any mail. What makes it more fun is seeing that some of her friends are also online. Many private chats ensue. The fact that she\u2019s just seen them at school, or that they all practically live across the street doesn\u2019t bother her. They just chat, for hours. During all of that, the phone is unavailable. It causes some friction between mother and daughter. It does, however, have a sunny side: we send each other messages. In the emails, we talk about our gripes and make agreements on the amount of hours spent on online chatting. Corresponding with your daughter like that is fun. Floor made one condition very clear: there will be no critisism of spelling and \u201cgrammer\u201d. Of course, I couldn\u2019t let that one slide. Moreover, I like to write about things that aren\u2019t said often enough in passing. Especially in my situation. I\u2019ve started mailing Hein more too. Ward is becoming a tad envious and wants an email address too. I\u2019ll allow it. I\u2019m already looking forward to corresponding with my son. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The chaotic final week of March It all began with the NRC interview and the subsequent 50 (70 by now) emails about it, plus an additional few written replies. Many old acquaintances responded, some of them from unexpected people. I love that. Complete strangers send me words of encouragement, poems, reviews, etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,82],"tags":[116,106],"class_list":["post-1667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2001-en","category-diary","tag-drinken-en","tag-peg-en"],"yoast_head":"\n