2020 has been a turbulent year, to put it mildly, containing events that have changed my life forever. The year began with dreams and plans of touring but that was soon brought to a halt when I was informed that I needed a hip replacement so I adapted to survive, what's another year I told myself.
Soon after that came the Covid-19 virus and with it a total Worldwide lockdown. Life as we knew it has changed forever and as we're still in the middle of it who knows how it's going to turn out? Once again I adapted to survive. It's what we do or we die. Humanity has shone it's brightest lights during this time and there is a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of this time to bring about much needed change in our society, only time will tell I guess.
More recently though and by far the most difficult event for me to adapt to, and still is, was the passing of my Mother.
Kathleen (Randles) O' Sullivan passed away peacefully on 27th April. We had celebrated her 80th birthday last December 11th and even though she had been in Our Lady Of Lourdes Care Facility for the past three and a half years because she had developed Alzheimer's her passing was unexpected and came as a huge shock to us all. It's only been a few weeks so I'm still processing and going through the grieving process as I'm sure I will be for a long time to come. I miss her very much but I'm happy in the belief that she is happy and reunited with my Dad who passed away 32 years ago and with all her family and friends who have also passed on. I'm a believer and I know I will see her again some day when it is my time to pass on.
I'm extremely grateful to have had the past few years close to her since I moved back home in December 2016 when she became ill. We shared many wonderful times together during that time, far more than we ever had during the 30+ years previous to that when I was living elsewhere and would only see her on occasional visits. I take wonderful memories with me into the future instead of regrets.
This is my favourite photo of Mom, taken when she was young and a contestant in the "Rose of Tralee" in the early 1960's. She will always be my Rose and the most beautiful woman I've ever known, inside and out. Thank you for my life Mom, I love you and I miss you! I've spent the majority of the past few weeks working on my garden and even though I strive to live in the moment as much as possible I couldn't help but wonder about the future, what to do next? I know Mom would hate to see me sink into a depression as would I and I can feel her presence guiding me so I've kept busy and with the lockdown still in force I'm pretty much confined to this space for the foreseeable future anyway. Everything's up in the air at the moment, my hip replacement surgery has been postponed until surgeries have recommenced in the hospitals, my garden is pretty much done and now it's over to Mother Nature to grow the plants, only minor maintenance required now, touring is out of the question so I came up with a plan.
Firstly I started back working on my book which I plan to finally get finished this year. I have a few songs and videos I plan to finish but to keep the momentum going on my show I've decided to stage a live online show on 16th August, 3 months from today. It will be the 5th Anniversary of the first time I staged the show (see video above of my first show) and it will also be my fifth show. One a year, must be some kind of record lol!! This is why God and I both laugh any time I make a plan, they never come to pass the way I plan them but something, quite often even more interesting, always comes about. At least with a plan I'm moving forward instead of floundering like I have been of late but sometimes it is good to flounder for a while too, it helps to rest, recuperate, reinvent and return anew.
I've got about a year left here in this house before we sell it and I move on so this is the year for me to set the groundwork for the next chapter of my life, the next book?
But I could die tomorrow! If there's one thing this life has taught me is that life is precious yet fleeting and we never know where or when it's our time to go so I choose to live every day like it's my last but hoping that it's not and plan accordingly. I wake up every morning and no matter how I'm feeling I thank God for another precious day of life. It's about quality of life rather than quantity of life for me now which is something everyone is being taught during this time of Covid, whether we learn it or not remains to be seen.
One of the highlights of my year so far was producing the video to "HumanKind" by Julia Cross. The song was recorded and mixed by my good friend Rik Appleby of LionHeart Productions and when he asked me if I'd be interested in producing the video to the song I jumped at the opportunity! I love the song, the vibe is beautiful and the lyrics are so pertinent to the World we live in today. It was the first time I made a video to a song that isn't my own and also the first time I used stock footage mixed with my own. I am very pleased with how it turned out, I was totally inspired by the vibe of the song! HumanKind.
"The Tree of Life" I made this for Mom earlier this year without the slightest idea of how the past few months were going to unfold but as I sit here now typing this blog I feel positive about the future. I'm looking forward to doing my show and finally taking it on tour next year, maybe it will happen or maybe something completely different will happen, I'm not worried either way. What will be will be.
I wish you all good health and happiness. I invite you to connect with me on Facebook, that's where I do my social networking.
Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read my blog.
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of my blog! 2020 has been a year like no other and with no end in sight to our current plight it is important to keep on keeping on with the the belief that one day soon we will once again find ourselves in a World where we can move about freely and meet and hold each other without fear, that is a day we will welcome with open arms. In the meantime we are blessed with technology which enables us to communicate with each other like never before. This too will pass and we will get through it!
