A new year, a new decade - welcome to 2020!

Hello!  How was your Christmas and New Year break?  This is going to be a totally honest and more personal post and one I have been trying to get my head around writing.  I was unwell with a bad cold when we travelled to La Gomera but the sun and rest did me good!  Then when we got back it was full on festive prep but I was unwell again over Christmas with some sort of virus and it totally knocked me out!  Plus we seemed to get bad news after bad news!  And who else struggles to cope when everyone is at home for two plus weeks?  Or it is just me?

First of all my brother-in-law passed away in the early hours of Christmas morning, we got the call at 8.00 am.  Now this wasn't unexpected, Jeremy was downs syndrome, had dementia and had been very sick back in May with double pneumonia and on palliative care when he came home from hospital.  But it is still sad - he had just turned 60 though and had enjoyed pretty good health his whole life.  I had been overseeing Jeremy's care and finances for about 18 years, I've known him for 30 years, fought really hard for him on many occasions and it was an absolute pleasure to do so, he really was a lovely man, a true gent and loved by everyone he met.  I am currently organising his funeral.

Then we had to make the decision to have our cat Pebbles put to sleep on 27th December.  She was 16 and had been the children's childhood pet, it seemed that she had fulfilled her role and as they are now growing up and leaving home it was her time to go.  I can't say I am a cat lover and the last few months had been challenging with litter tray etc but I still felt sad at the end of an era.

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