Thank You, Maggie

I spent some of today in Maggie's Centre, Edinburgh. I've been going there for quite a long time now and have got to know some people very well. One thing I like about the centre is that conversation is usually completely 'normal'. We talk about things like football, grandchildren, holidays...you name it and we cover it. Of course the conversation sometimes turns to illness, treatment, sadness but Maggie's is a place where it is perfectly fine to laugh or cry, be happy be sad, catch up on news or sit quietly.

Over the course of my illness, before my surgery in the confusion of recovery and all that has gone on in the time since my diagnosis Maggie's has been a constant. A place of safety, warmth and a kettle that is never off the boil.

On the kitchen table which is the hub of any Maggie's Centre is always an arrangement of fresh flowers and today's Blip is them with a view of the garden in the background.

Today I am exhausted after what has been an incredibly tense and emotional week and I spent some time sitting quietly on my own in one of my favourite rooms in the Centre just contemplating things and secure in the knowledge that all I had to do was open the door and I'd see familiar faces and be given an ear if I needed to talk.

Maggie's is what you need it to be. I feel fortunate to have such a place to go to because when things are good they are happy for me and when things are bad they help me through.