LIFE CHEZ DEE

I didn’t sleep last night. Happy that we’d had such a lovely, albeit very cold and wet, day out in Manchester to celebrate Justin’s birthday, and to see my big boy, who is loving University life, but goodness how I miss him. We ate, drank, chatted, and wandered and it was such a lovely day together. Such a bittersweet time. The birthday celebrations for Justin, and yet the memories of 5 years ago are so painful. 5th December is a date etched into my heart. The day five yea

Have you seen me lately? You might have missed me, there’s a lot less of me now than there was 6 months ago. I’ve been trying to lose weight, and really making a conscious effort to, but in a way which was not only going to be effective, but also steady and indeed sustainable. The science is all there. Consume less than you burn in energy and the weight will come off. It’s true. But it’s been hard. I’m not as young as I once was, and just cutting down, doesn’t actually cut

We’ve been out out. Doesn’t happen too often these days. Yes we go out, as a family, with the boys, we go out for lunch or coffees, but rarely do we get dressed up and go out … just the two of us … and we even stayed out all night! I was both delighted and privileged to be invited to a dinner dance at Derby County Football Club, by Steve Dayman, founder of Meningitis Now. Right from the day Edward died, Steve has been there for us. Steve founded Meningitis Now (or Meningitis

It’s April already, and with this comes the thoughts, the build up, the feeling which permeates every bit of my being, knowing that we’re in the days approaching Edward’s birthday. What I should be doing is hiding the presents I’ve bought him, finalising party arrangements, putting aside cards which arrive through the letterbox so that all these surprises are there waiting for him to excitedly open when he gets up in the morning. But that is far from reality now. I will get u

This week it was announced that the University of Strathclyde had developed a test for sepsis; a test which would cut the time down for waiting for the results to under three minutes, rather than the 72 hours as it is currently. Fantastic I thought, another step in the right direction. Anything which cuts down the diagnosis time has got to be good. Every hour delay in the diagnosis of sepsis and antibiotic treatment given, increases the likelihood of death. Time is not on you

So this week has been all about love. How do I feel? I don’t know how to articulate a quick and straightforward answer to that. I wake up on Valentines Day and the first person I think about is Edward. Edward is the first person I think about every day in fact. Edward is ALWAYS in my head the minute I wake, and ALWAYS in my head as I drift off to sleep. My love for Edward is forever. My love for all my children is forever. My love for my children is shown in hugs, kisses and

I wanted to write about trees. I could go on and on about trees and how special they are, but today I wanted to write about some really special trees … Trees #forEdward. Trees for Edward was born in 2018. It all started at the Post Office in St Annes, me chatting to Jan, Jan wanting to help the charity in so many ways. Jan knows many, many people, as you can well imagine, and before long she’s told all those many people about The Edward Dee Fund. One of the shop owners she to

I’ve had such a lovely day today. I’m feeling rather like a great deal has been accomplished, but I’m cold … really cold. I’m naturally a cold blooded person … I’m cold most of the time if I’m honest; but when I get cold I stay cold, I just cannot warm up no matter how warm the house is when I get back. When I’m chilled to the core, the only solution to get warm is to have a bath, get in pjs, dressing gown, slippers and cosy up in a big armchair with a hot drink. Those who k

We’ve just spent the day with Meningitis Now at one of their Forever Days, to support families who have been affected by meningitis in some way. The day was held at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland. We knew it was a bit of a trek for us, but given that it was ages since we had been on a support day, and given that we had nothing planned this weekend, we decided to apply to attend the Forever Day, and make a weekend of it. We managed to get a very cheap deal with a Premier Inn n

So this weekend has been all about Edward again. We’ve been in a local store, raising awareness, and a group of NCS Students have been at Lytham Hall fundraising for The Edward Dee Fund too. I’d suggested to William, who is in this NCS Group, that they split up so that they could sell raffle tickets in both places, therefore reaching more people. So William, and another, joined us in Booths. It was lovely to be in St Anne’s Booths, right on the doorstep of Edward’s school, ne

I’m sitting down this evening reflecting on the day …. and it’s been quite emotional. Today we were invited to the Remembrance Garden at Meningitis Now, 10th Anniversary Event. I have never actually visited the headquarters of Meningitis Now before. I’d often wanted to visit, to meet the people who I have had so much contact with since Edward died, and so knowing that this was going to be a lovely, and special event, we decided to go. We arrived in Stroud, but struggled to fi

So today I decided to try out Nordic walking. I’ve been thinking for quite some time now that I need to get back to getting my backside into gear and doing a bit of exercise. I’m so busy with so many things; the kids, the charity, just life in general, and its so easy to get out of the habit of exercise, and, certainly in my case, pile the pounds on too. I’ve done power walking before, well fast walking anyhow. I tried doing fast walking rather than running as I hated running