Who am I?

A very short post to introduce myself.
I was born in 1960, a good year I reckon and in July which I reckon is pretty perfect.  Not only is it summer time, but being half way through the year I always have a pretty even wait between Christmas and birthday.  Now my brother was born in early January and I've always thought what a long wait he has for Christmas to come around again.
Three grown up children and 4 grandchildren.
I am not in paid employement (I should add that neither do I claim any benefits), but give a huge amount of my time in voluntary work, which is all connected with cancer.    This has been driven by having cancer twice.
I don't want to give any detail here as no doubt I would end up repeating myself in later posts.  so where is this blog going, well my current thoughts are that it would be great fun sharing a blog with my eldest grandchild.  We love doing things together, so why not share some of it.  And then having worked to try and improve cancer services for 8 years now I have a lot to say on the subject.  And of course some random stuff thrown in.  So thats the future planned!

Welcome to my house

They say dogs look like their owners, or is it the other way around- strangely I started to wonder am I like my front door?

Not a question, one asks on a regular basis, but maybe a question you are right now wondering.  Well, lets look at our door a bit closer than usual, mine is wood, painted a lovely blue with the top half in glass.  He’s (odd, didn’t realise it was a he before) been here from before I arrived which is over 20 years ago now, he’s had some new paint, a new lock and even some new glass but otherwise all original. 

Now, I’m not blue or made of wood and glass but I recognise similarities I too am nearly all original.  Just like Fred (oops, he’s got a name now), I’ve had to have some replacement parts, but you can’t tell with a glance.

During our time together Fred has kept me safe, he has stood strong when there was unpleasantness with an ex husband.  He has opened wide and welcomed in new generations of my family, and I’m pretty sure that was a sparkling glint I spotted in his glass eyes as they came in.  I too do my best to keep my family safe and always welcome everyone back home.

I think its Fair to say we’ve both been wee’d on!  Me, by the small grandchildren and dear Fred by the cats.  Now why a cat should be so mean, I have no idea, but it has been know to happen and neither Fred nor I are happy with the resulting smell.  But its always me who has to clean up.  Fred, why aren’t you taking a turn?  Oh right, no legs, can’t move.  Fair enough.

So physically we have our differences, I get to come and go, Fred remains in the one place.  I stood by Fred today and just looked and looked.  Doesn’t the world look different when we stop and stand still.  Things become clearer, we see details, we see so much more.  Perhaps I should be a door more often, I quite like seeing this new world that I’ve been rushing past for so long.

And used, yes we are, well which of us is used and taken for granted the most will take a while to decide.  Poor old Fred, gets opened and shut daily, does anyone ever say Thanks for providing a good service, for always opening nicely, for not catching little fingers in the frame- no they don’t.  So just because Fred appears to be an inanimate object doesn’t mean he is.  Made of wood from a tree which was living and breathing who is to say there is no spirit inside.  Not me.  Wouldn’t dare.