Up, Up And Away!

Just 24 hours from now, I will be at Heathrow Airport, hanging around waiting for my flight to take me to St Louis to visit my darling man. I have so much to do today, I don't know whether I'm coming or going right now but all I can think is a mixture of /squeee and oh my gosh, where's the time disappearing to!

I was determined that this trip, I would pack earlier than the last evening but I've been awake for 3 hours and I'm only now getting round to being productive! Maybe it's the 4th coffee kicking in at last but I'm getting so hyped to see him again, it could be that which is fueling my mad panic to get all the things done.

This trip is special to me, it will be the third anniversary of my first trip to see him and I just can't wait! It's been a rollercoaster three years, divorce, selling a house and surviving breast cancer as well as learning to live alone for the first time in my life. I've said it before but I don't know how I would have got through it all without him. He's been my tower of strength, my butt-kicker when I needed it but mostly, he's just been there through every thing with me, holding my hand and giving encouragement, love and being a total goofball at just the right times.

Inspiration for Ghostbusters building

I love St Louis too - it's so very different from anything I expected from an American city but then my impressions of American city life come from TV and movies. Of course, I know those aren't accurate depictions of the way of life but it was and is, still a shock to me. I think the huge difference in lifestyle helps contribute to the culture shock too - I've always been a country girl, living in a small town rather than a city girl.

Having so many facilities and restaurants close at hand where he lives is great but it doesn't help my waistline, that's for sure. The City Diner is literally just across the road and it becomes my second home from home when I'm there. Two of the waitresses have taken me under their wings and took me out for a Girls Night last summer. I can't wait to see my friends again - both have had some heavy duty life experiences since my last trip & I need to give them big hugs.

There's also a few friends I have made in his apartment building that I'm dying to see again. Robert is an old man who spends his days hanging out in the foyer or watching the world go by from the sidewalk outside. I struggle with his deep voice and accent sometimes but he's such a nice old man and has some really interesting stories to tell. I know I'll get a big hug and a huge grin from him on Wednesday morning when I see him.

We've made a few plans for some of my visit, including a day out with his Mom, a must do Crawfish Festival at the Broadway Oyster Bar and possibly even a meet up with a Twitter friend or two. There's also an Italian Calzone restaurant he's promised to take me too and I'm insisting we have to go back to the little Mexican restaurant where he took me for my first Margarita way back on my first trip! It's going to be a great 3 weeks and I'm stubbornly refusing to even think about coming home. There will enough time for that later, much later!

Can you tell I'm excited? I feel like a kid on my way to Disneyland :)

(500 Word Challenge - Day 11 word count 621)

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Q is for Quotes!

If you've spent any time on Facebook, Tumblr or Twitter, the Q word for today will be very familiar! You just can't get away from Quotes on those platforms and any time I go looking for images on Google, I usually get a face full of quote images there too. So what better than to do a whole post on some of my favorite quotes?

Some of these resonate with me, others make me smile and some are just downright beautiful - many are designed to be useful in self-improvement journeys but they become cliches if over-used. That's a shame though, if they speak to you, keep them handy - it could be your subconscious telling you something :)

I could go on forever, adding in these picture quotes. I'm definitely a bit of a Quote Junkie! I know it's a very girlie thing but you know what? If a friend posts one of these for me, it's usually because they thought it suited me or would help me or perhaps amuse me but whichever option it is, they thought of me and that reminds me I do have people out there.

We all need little reminders sometimes and for me, these 'silly' quote pics are my way of telling those closest to me that I'm thinking of them or it expresses something I don't have the words for.

How about you? Do you like these quote images? Do you send them to your loved one or receive them? I'd love to know I'm not the only soppy sap out here :)

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H is for Hope, Health & Happiness

Just over two years ago, I stirred from the depths of a long dark depression, thanks in large part to the words of a wise young man in my World of Warcraft guild. He was struggling with his own demons and in my own darkness, I still managed to reach out a helping hand to him. He just needed someone sensible from outside his own little world to make sense of what was happening and of course, someone to vent to.

A little while later, I received the offer of a shoulder to cry or lean on from a relative stranger in this small blogging community. He was someone I knew of and had tweeted with on occasion but all I knew was his fearsome reputation. I think his words were along the lines of 'been there, done that, here if you need me' but they felt like a lifesaver at the time.

The first young man gave me a view of myself I'd lost along the way somewhere and he gave me hope - hope to recover and to fight this evil disease of the mind. The second man gave me some hope too but somewhere in the supportive chat, happiness started sprouting. I started to live for those late night conversations and pretty soon, the depression was just a bad memory. Happiness had moved in and looked like it was going to stay!

Then my health took a turn for the worse - I found a lump in my breast which turned out to be cancer. All my plans immediately went out the window as I faced hospital trips, tests and eventually an operation. I was super lucky though - I caught it early and they got it all when they operated so I didn't need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. I had planned to travel to visit my friend in the summer but we postponed the trip until my wound had healed. Through all of the trials, I never once looked down - I kept my eyes on those plane tickets and nothing got in my way.

Since then, my health has been fine although I had a second operation 4 months ago and will need another in the next few months. My happiness is as high as it was two years ago if not higher - every trip is better than the last and my happiness is only marred by the fact that I have to leave him to come home.

So my health is ok and my happiness is soaring - now I just have to hold on to hope - hope that this state will continue, hope that our joint hopes can be achieved and hope that bureaucratic red tape doesn't mess everything up for us. Distance & time zones suck!

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