Restricted Life

When I was told I was going to Northern Ireland for 6 month and I had to leave my wife my Son of 4 and my Daughter of 12 months I was filled with sadness. But I signed the dotted line.

Walking to the Taxi I tried not to look back but I knew it could be a memory of their faces I would keep just in case I never came home. That was the reality of going away to a foreign county where the enemy dressed like a normal person.

Now I wake up and I can’t travel outside my village or sit in a park with my Son and Daughter with their children. Hold them and kiss them and play with my Grandchildren.

I can’t visit my Step Daughters and their children and make them laugh, and do normal family things.

I want to visit my 2 friend’s and have a good giggle, chat about stuff. Walk on the river with our cameras and watch our wonderful bird species.

What Restrictions

We are still free, there is no War or a Famine, I am not in a unhappy relationship, with daily physical or mental torture. I am warm not lying in a shop doorway. I know who my wife is, my mind is not deteriorated through age. My sight is still OK, I can hear, smell, touch and make conversation.

Thinking of others is not something everyone does but is important to remember that your not the the only person who has to adapt to a different way of living. The Whole World is doing it.

We are all in the same boat.

When I went away from my Family all those years ago, the rest of the country lived a normal life, I was the one who had restrictions but I got used to it as it became the Normal way of life for 6 months.

Blackie.