Lj & Derek...

Although, going by the photo it's Derek & Lj but that's not how I'm used to referring to them :))

I have been desperate to take this photo for a long, long time and this morning, after a basic (but satisfying) breakfast of orange juice, coffee and hot buttered toast (all we could face after the amount of eating we did last night!) I persuaded Lj& Derek to head into the garden and plonk themselves in front of my camera. Lots of silly shots later, I finally got one of them looking semi-sensible. Not an easy task I tell you! :-))

What can I tell you about Lj? (Apart from the fact she is Sweden's greatest export. Abba come a close second :) Well you can read how she first came into my life HERE.. But what, of the many, many, MANY things I could tell you about her, will I mention? The most important one I think.

This is the woman, who, when I was struggling not only with first time motherhood but with the responsibility of having a 7 month old baby recently diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy, struggling with the responsibility of nasogastric feeding and having to pass Alan's nasogastric tube, struggling to deal with the number of professionals and associated appointments now taking over our lives, struggling with seeing the mums I'd made friends with at ante-natal classes enjoying their babies and delighting in each tiny development and struggling with how different our future would now look.....didn't put her arm around my shoulders and sympathise, didn't tilt her head to one side and look at me with sad eyes and a knowing smile, didn't tell me there's a reason for such things happening and one day it would all become clear, didn't tell me that God only gives special babies to special parents.....

No. This is the woman who said with a shrug "Shit happens. Now what are you going to do about it?"

Well not quite in those words but not far off it :-)))

And in doing so, she gave me the jolt I needed, no, much, much more than a jolt, the courage to take control, to actually believe that as Alan's mum, I knew him best and what was right for him and as a result to fight for a better life for him. She gave me the courage (and the opportunity) to leave my job and set up the Family Support and Advocacy Service, allowing me to help other parents fight for their own children.

She changed the course of all our lives and for that I and many, many other families shall be eternally grateful.

And Derek? Well he is just THE perfect English gentleman, with a twinkle in his eye and the ability to make tears of laughter drip from my chin with the minimal of effort. A warm, fiercely intelligent man who is one of the most interesting people I've ever met.

I adore them both.