I often forget I had a life before my autoimmune system went Pete Tong. I used to be very active, I was one of those very annoying 200 mile and hour people who never sat still, always had something new to do, I didn't understand the lure of a holiday, I always wondered what I would do after the all you can eat breakfast. I got as far as read a book, then what? Relax, hmm I hadn't mastered relaxing in 50 years, bit late to start now. I imagined myself staying in full time work until I could no longer do the job, I aimed for someplace in my mid 70's. Retiring was never an option. I loved my job, I had worked damned hard to become a Team Manager Social Work and I got such satisfaction from knowing I had helped to change a life, to help someone. Coming home each day feeling I had done the best I could gave me such joy. I went to the gym for 2 hours most nights, I loved going out with friends, I loved to party and dance, I so loved to dance, I might not be any good at it, but
While our family photo's are rare, we would have put the Addams Family to shame, not that we all wore weird black outfits and my Dad certainly didn't rock a pinstripe suit and pencil, moustache. The thought of my Mum and Dad doing the tango is just so far out of my experience it boggles my mind. No, we looked, to the outside World as perfectly normal, however, the things we got up to when we were bored is a little odd. Sunday afternoons, especially rainy day ones, usually saw us all bored. We had stuffed our faces on dinner and pudding, dishes done and a bag of sweets for us all, The afternoon film was usually left unwatched while me and my dad sat doing the broadsheet crossword, me doing the checking for answers in the encyclopedia, I mean, who really knows names of obscure lakes and rivers in the Andes? No Google then, just heaps of books everywhere, including a really old medical one that had graphic pictures of smallpox that I had written Trevor by the side of i