I'm back

Hello I'm back. I've been with my brother to visit our extended family following our aunt's death. This was quite a long journey & was preceded by complete organisational chaos on our parts. I'm too embarrassed to go into the details of how badly we planned this trip. Anyway we arrived to find our uncle (as in our aunt's brother) in hospital so we spent most of the time there visiting him & didn't see much of the lovely weather or beautiful countryside. It was really good to spend time with him though, I hadn't seen him for years & he is a real character with a wicked sense of humour. He is diabetic & has a foot infection which has sent his sugar levels crazy but he is slowly improving so should be home soon. My mum's cousin & her niece came & met up with us at the hospital & we were having a great time laughing & joking & taking photos. I suddenly thought 'This is a hospital & here we are practically having a party!' We managed to get past the security men as I was in the wheelchair so they thought I was a patient so we didn't worry about visiting times!

The really, really good thing that happened was we met up with our first cousin. When we were young we saw her & her brother every year & were really close. Then there was this awful family falling out & we were on either side of the divide even though my brother & I weren't personally involved in it all. The result of this was I hadn't seen her for 24 years. Anyway my mum's cousin gave me her mobile number & I thought I would text & ask if she wanted to meet up. She replied & said she would love to & we met up in a bar. I felt really nervous after all that had happened but it was great. We all just got on really well, like the intervening years had never happened & talked & talked late into the night & went back to her house for sandwiches. I just feel that after having been robbed of my cousin for all those years I've got her back & we're determined to stay in touch. All three of us also seem to be determined not to carry on with the silly feuding & fighting that has been so much part of our family for years & years.

Sadly her brother is very ill with schizophrenia but won't take his medication & is so disturbed at the moment that she can't see him because he becomes very aggressive towards her.

Really my family is the most precious thing I have.