Where Have I Been?

You might have noticed that over the last year I essentially vanished from my blog, bar the odd post. It's not the first time I've done it, but it has been for the longest period of time. 

2019 was rough. Really rough. Stu and I lost far too many family members, and we had to attend more funerals than any family should have to attend in such a short time. Within 4 days last year we attended 2 funerals for my side of the family, as well as what seemed like countless others. We lost people we dearly loved, some young, beautiful souls and it impacted us both deeply. It seemed frivilous to write about pretty dresses and make up and shiny things when our families were in so much pain. 2020 hasn't been much better, losing dear friends and this awful pandemic to boot, as well as the many first anniversarys of those we lost last year. Grandma, Jayne, Uncle Richard, Alys, Uncle Danny, Andie, you are all so missed.

One person in particular I want to share is Stu's cousin Alys, because she also blogged and her talent for writing was amazing. Al was the sort of person who made everyone feel welcome, she was instantly your friend. Sadly not long after the birth of her son Teddy she was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away in May last year. Alys wrote a blog of a lot of her journey, and her words will make you laugh, and destroy you all within the same blog post. Please read it, she was such a talented writer and the most wonderful human.

https://bestalys.com/

After losing so many family members, to really finish the year off, we had to say goodbye to our beloved dog Ashen. He had been diagnosed with arthritis many years ago, and despite supplements and medication, it sadly got too much for him and we had to make the decision to put him to sleep. He was in so much pain and it was the right thing to do, but it's also so hard to make that decision. I miss him endlessly. I miss seeing his wagging tail as soon as I wake up in the morning, I miss opening the front door to him being stood so close to it I can barely get in the house because he was so excited to see me. I miss the cuddles and his daftness. He was the goodest of boys and I don't think the house will ever not seem eerily quiet. He was my best friend.

A few weeks ago we also had to say goodbye to Ashen's little best mate, our cat Lemmy Katmister. I still remember writing an introduction to him on this blog. He was the baby of our little zoo, aptly named because he was the noisiest cat you could ever have met. He developed a tooth abcess and during the operation to remove his tooth they realised that he had further lesions down his throat and riddling his insides, cancer. We didn't get to say goodbye because of the pandemic which was so hard, but I hope he knew how loved he was.

So the last year or so hasn't been the best. In fact it's been the worst. So I felt no need to write. I didn't have any words that seemed to fit here, or that seemed necessary to share. The only place I have been writing is for PokémonGOHub, because one of the few things that has made me smile during all this, as daft as it sounds, has been PokémonGO. If you want to read any of my posts for them, they're all here. I focus on AR photography mostly, because what could be more cute than bringing Pokémon into the real world. 

https://pokemongohub.net/post/author/kittypokemonsalot/

So yeah. That's where I've been. Is this a comeback? I'm not sure. But I felt the need to revamp my blog, it has a whole new look (I was never happy with the old layout, this is SO much better), and I might just appear from time to time.

I don't know about anyone else, but I can't wait to be able to give my family a hug when it's safer.

Much love,

Kitty

xxxxx