Whatever Will Be

On Saturday it was supposed to be my second wedding date. Well, third depending on how you look at it. We had a registry office ceremony in August 2020 with an original plan of a big festival style party the weekend immediately after. That party was rescheduled for Saturday just gone, and now might happen later on in the year but we have decided to cancel completely if it can’t. I’ve been quite quiet on social media recently since my break, I feel very reflective and calm but like I do not have very much to say.

Although, other than that it was a very pleasant and successful week! I have known that I was the 2020 recipient of the RSPH Heggie award for a few months but the official announcement came this week when I received my physical award. It’s hard to put into words how chuffed I am to have achieved this. The Heggie award was something I had sort of aimed for from the start, it is given to the person who achieves the highest exam grades in the Level 3 Diploma in Anatomical Pathology Technology each year. The APT students in my cohort and the two following cohorts have all been affected by the pandemic in different ways. However I am so proud that we have continued to study, take our exams and achieve what we have in this time. I’m now mentoring a colleague who is completing her exams and assignments this year which I’m really enjoying.

This week I also achieved a milestone in my CPD, or Continuing Professional Development record, which I submitted for the years 2019-2020. To have been able to record all the different things I have done and how they have helped me professionally feels really great. Looking back, some of the things feel slightly significant. For example, in the end of 2019 I completed a course in epidemiology with OpenLearn (the fabulous free section of The Open University) and that was just before the world started talking about epidemics and pandemics incessantly. By the end, I’ve attended some great talks and even given some (hopefully) informative talks myself. Reflecting on what we have achieved in the past year and a half rather than what we haven’t feels like a much more worthwhile task.

With that, I don’t have very much more to share with you at this time. I had this week booked off as annual leave as a post-wedding hangout with my friend and her family should they have made it out from the US. All of that feels like a distant dream now, but I’m almost grateful for the awful weather which would have really dampened a festival style celebration and my planned days out with my friend. Instead I’m planning on lots of reading, tea and maybe some gardening should the weather improve (the pandemic seems to have aged me significantly in what I enjoy doing!). Have a great week whatever you might be up to.

MG x