Friday April 26

In light of recent events, my mum has inspired me to write a 'happy journal', a journal with one happy thing a day.

So today I'll start with the easiest thing. Family. Family for me has meant more than it ever has; I guess I've always taken it for granted, even when I think I'm not, but for the first time in my whole life I've learnt to savour a simple family lunch, a dinner, the quiet footsteps down the corridor in the middle of the night, just being able to sleep under the same roof together, having people around you who know almost every page of your life. The greatest gift I've ever had is my family, and that is definitely something to be happy about.

A changing tide

These last two weeks, I've had one of those painfully and devastatingly life changing events that puts your life into perspective and makes all those petty little matters and worries that I've ever rambled about feel so folly and ridiculous. This week I learnt to truly understand and appreciate that life and time are frail, unpredictable, fleeting and so, so valuable; that each moment we spend with our families and relatives and friends are precious- I just wish I could've captured every loving memory not only in my mind but in hardcopy to cherish forever- and that these moments can be cut short so quickly, so abruptly, so suddenly...that life and function can deteriorate in an instant, that the truths and genetics of living are real and unforgiving. I don't know what more we will encounter, where things will go from here, but for now all we can do is embrace each day as they come, cherish every moment, capture every piece of happiness; hope, wish, love-I just hope we're all strong enough.