50 Reasons To Smile

Hello, dear reader!

So today's blog offering is written by little moi (Tina). Apparently I have had lots of excitement recently, and I have a good excuse to share these events with you guys….. So here goes

You may recall - a few weeks ago we had a superbly amazing joint party to celebrate Mark and I turning 50.The party in fact was a little early for my actual birthday, but we chose a date in between to mark the auspicious occasion.

My actual birthday occurred yesterday, and was a fitting and perfect way to celebrate when someone turns 50. It simply involved cake, flowers, gifts and champagne!

That Keeps On Giving
The day began with a bit of gift opening, then a 4 hour session with my ‘ plan for living well ‘ group (with birthday cake, chocolate and flowers). This is an exciting group that I have been working with for 6 weeks, and they are simply amazing. Why did you work on your birthday I hear you say? The very honest answer to that would be I absolutely love my job.

 

For the first time in forever (I think there's a song that says that) I am happy and content in my job, I feel privileged to journey alongside some amazing people, who both inspire and challenge me to be a better person. In my role as a peer support within mental health services, I meet so many people who, like me, struggle with maintaining their mental health. I walk alongside them, and I am constantly inspired when they share with me details of their survival stories.

Out For A Duck
Anyways, back to the birthday shenanigans. After my morning session at work, I was picked up by a very handsome man who incidentally is also 50. He had booked us a meal in one of our favourite eating locations. My hubby and I are quite simple creatures, we love good wholesome food cooked with love, and we discovered The Blacksmiths Arms a few years ago. It boasts amazing views of castle hill and the surrounding areas, it also boasts ducks and chickens, and really delicious home cooked food (propper chips!). It holds lots of memories for us as a couple, and also my family as it was one of my mums favourite places to visit. She loved the views, loved the food, but mostly she loved trying (and failing) to stroke the chickens and the ducks.

Until dementia began setting in, mum was an amazing practical joker - always making us laugh with the things she said, but mostly, the things she did. She would always press all the buttons on animated toys in the shops, and would often be found poking the animals in their cages when we visited places like ponderosa - or even Chester zoo.

She also put so much thought into birthday cards ( and Christmas cards ), making sure that the cards suited our personalities. She would pick them up, then would forget where she had put the cards, resulting in her buying multiple cards ( which we discovered when we cleared out her flat before she went into the care home ).

Birth Day
But yesterday, on my significant 50th birthday, there were no cards from my mum, no phone calls with her singing happy birthday to me, and this made a happy occasion just a little bit sad. Luckily, the sadness wasn't overwhelming, and I managed to have a lovely day - and take great comfort in my memories of the amazing lady who gave birth to me (after a hugely difficult pregnancy apparently - a story for later maybe) 50 whole years ago.

Now that's a reason to celebrate for more than just a day !






Until next time.