Hello again, and again apologies for not posting. I won’t bother explaining why, but here’s one for ya. A few things have happened lately, so I thought I’d do a bit of a yearly round up!

I think the first and most important part of this is Sarah and I got married! The day itself was incredible. Very chilled, very easy going and more importantly incredibly fun. Sarah got ready with her bridesmaids and Amelia at her mum’s house, whilst I met my groomsmen at my mum’s for a drink and of course some food. Sarah and I were married in the registry office – nothing fancy, a lovely simple service, though for us it was nothing short of perfect. We went back for a reception at the cricket club and although the weather wasn’t in our favour, we had a blast. A fairly small affair compared to our original plans meant that not everyone we wanted to invite could come, but those who did all seemed to enjoy and once this whole bloody pandemic is over we hope to have a big party again to celebrate with everyone. Of course the highlight of the day was sarah – she looked stunning and I am absolutely the luckiest man in the world, now for one more reason.

Obviously there were a few special highlights of the day, thankfully most of them were captured by my awesome mates Jeff and Les, who very kindly took photos and videos of the day for us. Seeing Sarah for the first time was obviously incredible, as was the chill out at my mums prior to the wedding. After that the cake was great (Disney and Star Wars, very us) and we had an awesome flower wall which is the backdrop for many great snaps. Finally the speeches, though in particular my best man Jack giving a mini stand up routine was a particular highlight. I’d like to give huge thanks for everyone who came, wished us well, sent us cards and gifts… too many people to name here but it was an incredible day made even more special many the kindness we were shown.

Obviously it has just been Christmas, which unfortunately I was working for, leaving Sarah and Amelia home alone. Unfortunately our plans were ruined by two little lines on a lateral flow test, with both Sarah and Amelia testing positive. It was a pretty uneventful day overall though Amelia enjoyed herself which is the most important thing. Since then I had Boxing Day off and unfortunately joined the covid club – I can’t say I’m enjoying it but it would seem most of the world is partaking so I couldn’t miss out.

So what else has happened – well, not much really! We had a honeymoon planned but Sarah has started her new job, so until that’s all in order we will be postponing our honeymoon. She’s doing incredibly well, and makes me proud every day. I’m still working, so between us we seem like ships passing in the night some weeks; though we knew this would happen.

This year hasn’t been the best really, has it? I can’t say it was terrible because that would be a lie for me at least, and plenty of great things have happened (see above). However, the pandemic has kind of put us all in limbo, not knowing where we are or what will happen next. Hopefully next year will see an improvement – we will be able to see family and friends, get on with life as normal, or at least figure out a new normal.

I think there’s a few important things I’ll take away from this year. Obviously I’ve got Sarah and Amelia with me, but it’s really shown me how important my friends are. We used to have our friends Jack, Aaron and Lucie round almost every week for food and drinks, but because of covid things seem to have slipped away – that is going to be rectified ASAP. Another thing is that I’ve had it reaffirmed how lucky I am to be in a job I genuinely love, so I’m going to keep pushing forward with that and do the best I can – I know Sarah feels the same about hers. We are still young and that gives us great things to look forward to in our careers. Finally I think I’ve learnt a great deal about my world view, my interpretation of what’s going on around me and how I can influence what comes my way – It’s important to have your eyes open, but also to realise when it’s best just to go with the flow. I know that sounds very vague, but it makes sense in my head and might make me sound philosophical… we shall see.

I’m not one for New Years resolutions, as quite simply I’m terrible at keeping them, so rather than make empty promises I’d like to share with you a few of my aims for the year. We all talk about mental health, and so I think focusing on mine is a good place to start – I plan to keep my eye on what’s important, and remember that what doesn’t involve me shouldn’t bother me. Another goal is to improve my physical heath; I’ll keep working with Alex, and I want to specifically improve my wheelchair skills. Finally – and this is the big one – I want to keep helping others in whatever way I can, particularly with the PFC trust (see previous posts) and hopefully we will improve many lives!

There’s lots to look forward to this coming year. Hopefully we will be able to enjoy more of those things. From my family to yours, happy new year!