Not playing catch up

Sometimes life catches up with you. Sometimes it looks like overtaking you and you race even faster to keep up. Right now I think I can still see 'life' (or a fair proximity of it) disappearing over the horizon, having sneaked past me while I was busy trying to keep up with practical things. If life is a race, I think I lost out in the early qualifiers - not really sure, someone kept changing the rules. I still seem to be in the race (often against my better judgement), I just don't remember signing up.

In real terms, our son has had another chest infection (slowly drifting into asthma but coming under control), my wife is slightly incapacitated due to a slow healing operation (so I've become a family taxi service), my daughter has just made a major change in her life (a good one that I hope I've helped with), mother and father still alternating with fragile health (mum's turn just now) and another relative is needing various assistances through a serious illness.

I think I'm coping but I could just be delusional and shellshocked. These sort of crises are actually easier to deal with than the intensive stress inducing and protracted processes of re-negotiating a care package because of cut backs in NHS and Social Services. This of course trundles on and we at last have been promised a meeting with an NHS representative who is deemed qualified to assess his health care needs. (Though I have some doubts as she's meeting us, but seems not to be that interested in seeing my son - the one who actually needs the care. She will meet him as we refuse to let this become another paperwork over the cracks exercise. We will be bringing him to the meeting however inconvenient - for her.)

I've come to the conclusion that life is only a race if you agree to take part - right now life is over busy, but I'm going to have a tea break. If life doesn't want one - that's life's problem.