But strange heroes stepped up to the mark to rescue me, whilst I was rescuing MadMum.
There were all the landmarks I decided to aspire for and try to achieve in the past year:-
The 10k run to raise money for Alzheimers
The rock concerts I'd been missing
The fun and the laughter of days out, nights out and holidays
In a whistle stop summary, during the past year I ran (with my DD, her partner, and my DIL) 10k in the Great Manchester Run, raising over £3k for Alzheimers.
I went to Hard Rock Calling with DD and her OH, to see the Kaiser Chiefs and the Killers. I went to Oxygen with my schooldays chum, for 4 nights and 3 great days of concerts and caught unforgettables such as Coldplay, Beyonce (pre-baby), Brandon Flowers, Black Eyed Peas and Slash as well as great performances from Ke$ha, Noah and the Whale, Tiny Tempah, The Strokes, Foo Fighters (awesome), Beady Eye and so many, many more fantastic acts.
I went to Harvest at Jimmys Farm, and saw the Feeling and Eliza Doolittle.
Went to BBC Good Food show and saw Jamie Oliver bantering with Gino; James Martin with a broken foot and so many foodies and ate awesome yumyums.
Went to Centre Parks with my DS, DIL, fantastic twins, DD and OH, and we cycled, swam, treasure hunted and canoed; we got sore bots and sore feet, we drank wine and we laughed and had enormous fun.
I went to LIsbon, for the first time and walked up nearly all of the ten or was it nine hills ... which nicely offset the pounds that would have been accumulating because of the awesome food.
But the strangest of heroes was Harry Potter with knitting. On Ravelry there is an HP Knitting and Crochet House Cup; the folk are fun and the challenges are awesome.
When things got difficult with sisters who are angry, or loved ones who are ailing, there was knitting.
I knit some fun things and some wonderful things. I sorted my stash and I found caring friends. Knitters are, for the most part, caring fun people who enjoy making things that make other people happy.
I found shawls. I will end with a random few
And so, after some absence, shawls, music and happiness have made their way back into my life.
May happiness and laughter sneak back into yours too.
