Make time.....write a letter......make a new friend.

Hello my lovely people how are you all, enjoying the weather? Well in the Grotto I have a beautiful breeze so I'm fine 😂 here is a snippet of my longer post full of feel good things. 

I wanted to start with something I personally feel proud of, it's something small but so important to two lovely ladies. I'm talking about Mrs Edith Tulley and Mrs Nora Morris from my local care home. I'm sure anyone who is human with a warm beating heart felt the sorrow at the Carehome situation back in Lockdown part one. Not only were people dying but there was the ones who couldn't see their families, or those who had no one but the Care Workers. In the past, before my optics days, I worked as a domicilary Care Worker, I met some wonderful people but I decided to leave because I wanted to help more and apparently that was nurse work......which I wasn't. 

Now I had once of those dangerous things, a thought, if I can't go and volunteer at the Care home, maybe I could offer a letter writing service, as it were. Now I love writing letters by hand, I always have and always will. SWALK!!! In my early college days I would send letters to the offices of famous faces I admired, a few times I got replies and autographs and that made me so happy.  

So I sent an email to a few Carehomes and got a reply from my local one telling me they would ask their Residents. Much to my surprise two weeks later they emailed me back saying two ladies wanted to recieve a letter and were able to reply. They sent me a little bit of information about them, what they liked and so on and I set about writing. I can tell you it's lovely writing letters you know will be read by someone, someone who will smile as they do and reply. Now Mrs Morris and Mrs Tulley are two VERY different people! They became friends while living in the Carehome and both are very strong minded and willed women but..............Mrs Morris is a very naughty lady! She's very cheeky and VERY naughty if you know what I mean. She likes to tell me things about the war and recipes she's found in magazines, she's also a master at crochet and has given me tips to improve my own skills. I buy her the magazines and she sometimes sends me ones written by hand......BUT! She is very naughty when it comes to men! She made me giggle with her letter a few weeks ago, well actually she made me burst out laughing leaving me half tempted to tweet a photo of her comments to the intended TV Dr she......complimented. I think that's the kindest word to use. Don't misunderstand she's not vulgar in anyway, she just openly says if she thinks a man of good looking or has a nice bottom and in this case she wrote the 'If I was 40 years younger' line. You see she, like me, finds being smart, funny, kind and sweet faced attractive. I like beards though while she doesn't, her husband tried to grow one in their days of courting (Dwaa I love that term.) and told him to shave or she would take the lawn mower to it. They had a great marriage and she misses him dearly.

Mrs Tulley however is such a sweet natured lady, her letters are shorter than Mrs Morris but still just as lovely. She calls me a chatter bird and imagines I talk as much in real life as In my letters. (And she would be right, most of the time it's because I love talking to people but at times it's nerves, that and hiccups are signs of me being nervous..... And if I start the cheesy jokes run for the hills!) She used to be a Land girl during the war, we talk mostly about growing things and she's given me some killer tips for my trees. I have four you see, one avocado and tree pine trees. I don't know if the pine trees will grow to become saplings but one can try. She does talk politics even though she knows I don't fully understand, dispite having met three Prime Ministers myself, she enjoys telling me about Politics Live. (In case your wondering I met John Major as a child because I won a competition, he was very nice and we shook hands after a chat. I also met Tony Blair when he was running for parliament, funny story that, he came to my school and disrupted the lunch break. He asked me what I was up to and I, rather rudely in my own opinion replied 'The library is closed because your here so not much' I mean I could have been nicer but I was bummed out about not going to the library. And last one was Boris Johnson, that was back in his Mayor days. I was running the banking stuff over the city with a fellow Lab tech and there he was with a few of his people, standing there waiting for the underground my colleague and I did that 'Is that who I think it is' thing and he looked over, waved and said good morning. It was really quite cool actually, we had a chat for three stops about bikes and cake.........I am a bike rider you see and baker and of course we know Boris was into his bikes.) 

Now I'm telling you all of this just to show you my own experience, just with one thought I made two ladies who felt cut off from the world when theirs had changed, happy. My letters won't change their lives, it won't make this situation any better, but it makes their lives a little happier, it gives them things to talk about, something to look forward to and they really appreciate it. Plus I have two new Nana's who I care deeply for.

 

So to sum things up

So what I was trying to say in this section is making friends is not all about social media. Hand writing letters is such a wonderful thing, it's peaceful for your mind, enjoyable not only for you but the person you are sending letters to. Sadly Mrs Morris has passed away since writing my post entitle 'Cheese is not your enemy' Mrs Tulley is not feeling very well at rhe moment which is quite worrying but I'm sending her healing light. 

But give it a try, send your friend a letter, gell send your Nana a letter! Hand written letters can be so much fun, I love sending letters with little surprise gifts too, make it your own just give it a try. 

Until next time my little pixies 🧚🏻‍♀️ 

Tatty bye 👋🏼 

It OK To cry 🤗

A few months back I wrote I long post with loads of information, emotional stuff and since we're looking after our mental health I thought I'd share things with you starting with this section on my successful blog post 'Cheese is not you're enemy....... But socks are.' so sit back, pull up a comphy toad stool and enjoy and remember, it's ok to cry. 🤗 

It's ok to cry section from 'Cheese is not your enemy' post. 

I was going to leave this section out, but then I thought, I want you to know it's ok to cry. So many people feel embarrassed about it, they want to hide away. Now sometimes it's good to lock yourself in your room and have a private cry but trust me, having a cry with someone there with you is a wonderful feeling. I have hugged lots of people I know and love when they need a good cry.  Having a pair of arms go around you tightly while you break down can make you feel safe. It's a moment your frail and vulnerable and those arms, no matter who they are can keep you together and feel safe from The world around you. I felt that way when My Grandpa hugged me, and I've been told I'm a great hugger....unless you ask my Nana then I break your ribs. I know we can't hug our loved ones right now and that's hard, I'm a hugger and I miss hugging my best friends, my family. 

Life is hard enough without this Corona Virus and while we're doing our best as a nation, we need to remember ourselves. 

I do believe having a cry is healthy for you, I'm no doctor you understand but it just feels like a release and once I've dried my face and blown my snotty nose, I feel better not just in my mind but my heart. Call me soppy if you like but it really does. 

Here's my example.

November 4 would have been my Grandpa's birthday, he died and it hits me that I can't make that phone call, no matter how short it was. He was my father figure and hero, he told me how life works and to work hard at everything you do. All the things a real dad did. So yes, his death hit me and it hit me hard. 

Three days after he died I was helping a patient, yes I was out of the laboratory, and half way through the radio played a song, 'Dance with my Father' Luthor Van Dross and I couldn't help it, I excused myself and cried on the steps at work. I couldn't listen to that song for months after. Now I realised that song made me cry because I always had a vision that one day I would get married, he would walk me down the aisle and we had that father and daughter dance, that's what I always wanted. But hearing that song just clicked something in my brain and out they came. 

So back to this year November 4, I took my boy to school and came home trying to keep my mind off the day, but I just couldn't focus and there was a lump in my chest I couldn't  shift. So I went to my room, pulled up that song, picked up my childhood Teddy, (yes 34 and I still have my Teddy 🐻 love me, love my Teddy.) I let it play and once the chorus hit, the tears fell. Yes I'm not shamed, I full on cried into poor Teddy but I felt so much better after. It felt like a release, the feeling in my chest was gone and my mind was clearer.  I also had visions of my Grandpa tell me to stop being soppy in his own way and that made me smile.

Things can get on top of us and life is hard, there's so much to contend with and while some of us are parents and have to put them first, we do need time to take care of ourselves. After all, if I'm not well or at 100% who will take care of my boy? 

So if you feel like crying do it, don't be ashamed. If you want to talk to someone about how you feel, do it, even if you write it down. On Twitter I have my messages open so if you ever want a chat drop me a hello, I'm a pretty good listener and I always have a joke or two.... Other than that I'm sure I can find a Giff that will make you grin. 

So here's the links to two really good books I love to read, I'm a bit of a romantic and The Princess Bride is my Favourite book while Big Fish just captures my heart.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Fish-Daniel-Wallace/dp/147117302X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Big+fish+book&qid=1604928834&sr=8-1 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Princess-Bride-William-Goldman/dp/0747545189/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=The+Princess+Bride+book&qid=1604933666&quartzVehicle=6-132&replacementKeywords=the+bride+book&sr=8-2

A bedtime story for you ♥️

Molly eat tofu by Kayleigh Burdett

I have a very special friend her name is called Molly, 

She runs and plays like all my friends and is always rather jolly. 

But there is one thing you won’t believe when I say to you, 

Molly eats just one thing and that thing is tofu. 

When my friend Nick sits down to eat meaty sauce and spaghetti,

Molly’s eating tofu while dancing with a yeti. 

If Amy and Lucy have made some lovely banana bread, 

Molly will eat tofu while standing on her head. 

Olivia loves a chicken dinner with vegetables and gravy too, 

But Molly has no gravy while eating her tofu. 

For lunch Harry enjoys baked beans on toast 

but eating tofu on its own is what Molly loves the most. 

While Chris makes Xand eat creepy, crawly bugs....... yuck! 

Molly is eating tofu while driving a monster truck. 

To Tracy’s porridge her mum adds honey from a beehive, 

but Molly eats her tofu, just after this skydive.  

Now Molly eats tofu because she doesn’t like meat or fish, 

tofu with more tofu is her favourite dish. 

But eating different things to your friends doesn’t really matter, it’s true 

Because Molly is always my special friend and Molly eats tofu.