Hooray!! It is December, in fact it is 2 weeks till Christmas, so I can finally get excited and talk about Christmas properly without being told its too early!! My decorations are up, I have returned to work and I am feeling really good. My scans are all positive and so everything is ‘good’ for now and I am looking forward to spending a very relaxed, Happy Christmas with my family and close friends.
However for some it is not the ‘most wonderful time of the year’. I always think that loss of any kind is always much harder during this season of festivity, when you are expected to be full of fun and laughter. On the 1st December it would have been a friend’s 52nd birthday who sadly passed away from Cancer in February 2019. Not a day goes past when she doesn’t come to my mind. She was so loved, she was such a fighter and had so much to give. Another friend lost her mum last week and another lost her partner, and that is just to mention a few.
Death is a part of life. It will happen to us all. We hear about it daily for whatever the reason, be it illness, sudden or unexplained. ‘Death’ doesn’t care of the time of year, and doesn’t care about who you are. For many people it is not something that you need to think about, it doesn’t or hasn’t affected you and I am not saying that you should. But loss always seems so much more poignant at this time of year; the time of celebration and being with loved ones.
So whilst we are enjoying the festive season, including myself, I will spare a moment for those people I know that will find this Christmas particularly difficult and for those I have known and lost. For those I have met and are still fighting.
Christmas is a time for remembering and for being thankful for those you have around you and appreciating the small things. It doesn’t matter about the presents you get or how much they cost, it is about making special memories that no one can ever replace or take away. That is what matters, and that is what is important.
‘May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace; the gladness of Christmas give you hope and the warmth of Christmas grant you love.’
My Journey with Breast Cancer 