Month: December 2018

I can hardly believe that the year is just about over, it has flown by, it doesn’t seem more than a couple of weeks since last Christmas!

When I reflect back on the year, it has been surprisingly busy, there have been some real highs and some deep lows. I thought I’d do a quick review of the year ❤️

In January, we had our belated Christmas celebration in Gosport with Joan, Tony and Penny and went to see Pompey play. Penny and I got to cuddle Frogmore and we all had a fabulous time.

 

Later in the month I went to the strictly tour in Leeds with Chris and Bryony, it was an amazing show and a lovely long weekend with family.

In February I saw Dr Alexander my oncologist and got a good report, everything seems stable, gold star!  My old (yes I know you’re 6 months younger than me!) friend Gabi and my goddaughter Molly came to stay for a few days and we had a creative time having lots of fun.

In March, we had a lovely Chappell  family weekend (once we managed to get out through the snow) on the Norfolk Broads celebrating Richie’s 70th Birthday.  Booie came home for two weeks to celebrate with us so we were able to do lots together which was an added bonus.

April began with Easter.  We had Dad, Chris, Bryony, Chris and Amelie here for a very wet Easter egg hunt and loads of laughter.  We also managed a 30 minute (well maybe a few hours!) makeover of the lounge and dining room… it still feels fresh and it’s really relaxing.

My gorgeous friend Claire also came to visit from Derbyshire and as always we overdosed on laughter and sunshine (the sun always shines when she visits!).

In May we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary by going out for lunch with our fab friends Tina and Shaun which is always a treat.  We established a sewing (for ‘sewing’ read ‘coffee and chat’) club with my two neighbours Debs and Sarah.  To be able to walk to a weekly get together with these engaging like-minded ladies is an absolute delight and has brought another essential level of connection into my life 😁

June was a a little less busy but I still managed to attend an afternoon tea with my May Gurney work bestie Kerry in support of Breast Cancer Care and we went down to Gosport to spend a couple of days with the Blacks.  Tony had a heart attack in January which was followed by a stroke he was making a good recovery and it was great to all be together with some sense of normality. As we know (because I keep talking about it!) ‘normal’ is relative…

At the beginning of July I made soap for the first time with my inspiring friend Hajira.  Tony had another heart attack.  It may sound naive but every one of his events surprised us.

Phil and I went away with Dad, Chris, Bryony, Chris and Amelie to Estepona in Spain to celebrate Chris’s Birthday… I can’t tell you which one because it’s a secret!  We had a lovely time but I’ve already told you about that 😁

August continued with more glorious sunshine and I attended a truly liberating and inspiring workshop with Bryony and Tina called the He’art of thriving with Kimberley Hare.  It’s based on the three principles and has reinforced the joy of living in the moment, the waste of energy dwelling on the past and the pointlessness of associating future happiness with anything other than one’s own innate capacity for love ❤️

In September we had visits from my Hungarian friend Zora, Mum & Richie with Maddie from Canada and Penny and Joan (not all at the same time!). Phil has been a superstar 🌟

October was equally jam packed!  My beautiful goddaughter Ellie married Stu in the most dreamy location in Clitheroe, there was so much love in that place it was almost overwhelming; my heart and face ached with it (that’s a good thing 😘)

The following day I caught the train down to London, Phil was left to drive the long journey home alone, and I met up with Chris.  We were only going to the Strictly live show!! Booie has a friend in California who is friends with someone in Australia who is friends with someone on the Strictly crew and hey presto… VIP tickets and we’re on our way.  It was a-maz-ing! The rest of October was spent recovering but it was so worth it.

November began in the worst way possible.  Tony my kind, gentle brother in law died unexpectedly, albeit peacefully in his sleep during the night of November 1st.  The rest of the month is a bit of a blur to be honest but we are grateful that the medical team are confident that he wouldn’t have known anything about it and we have become closer as a family united in grief, taking care of each other focussing on all that was great about having had Tony in our lives.  The outpouring of love from so many people whose lives had been touched by Tony has been of huge comfort to us all.

December demonstrated that we can continue to have fun whilst holding space for the sadness.  I went up to Mum and Richie’s with Debs and Sarah and we visited Chatsworth House.  In all the years I’d lived in Derbyshire, and the hundreds of times I’d driven through the Chatsworth estate, I’d never actually been in the house.  We left Chesterfield in blazing sunshine and as we came over the tops to drop into the Derwent Valley we descended into the cloud and the house held its mystery in a ghostly shroud! This did not detract from the beautiful fairytale themed decorations inside the house which were somehow even more magical as a result.

I had another good report from Dr Alexander 😍 we planned another CT scan just to be sure everything is still behaving, I had it on the 22nd and will get the results January 16th.

Time for just one more event before Christmas – another trip to London to see the Nutcracker Ballet with Gabi, Molly, Kat and Jan at the Coliseum. It was beautiful and magical and suddenly I felt Christmassy!

Throughout the year I have continued with my weekly laughter yoga sessions. I have an awesome group of ladies, the environment is so nurturing and full of love it gives me immeasurable amounts of joy.

I have also attended pottery classes throughout the year with varied success 😁 but it is such great therapy and I have made some good friends through it 😊

Christmas, as always has been a celebration of family and friends, we are welcoming the new year with Joan and Penny and we will be raising a glass of something to Tony together.

I will talk to you more often in 2019 and apologise to anyone I’ve missed out 😍

I wish you all a new year filled with joy and love

Lots of love as always, Mand ❤️