Life is good...

It is amazing how things can change.

The beginning of this year I felt like I had no life in me. I didn't really know that at the time, but looking back I can see how I was just existing.

Heading towards our first Christmas with change in our family dynamics it really demonstrates how much we have moved on.

I know that there are other people who are making life changing decisions every day and sometimes they are not wanted or desired, but are accepted because of other people's life changing decisions. I just wanted to say that life really does get better...it really is what you make of it, and I know that my life is going to get even better in the future.

My mother said something significant the other day; she said to me that she was finally seeing her daughter back. Years ago, I had always been a happy, go lucky type of person who enjoyed life; she has witnessed the transformation from the last few years of looking strained and tired, pale and stressed. Now she sees a refreshed person, and she isn't the only person to comment that I look very different from just six months ago.

It is not just life situations that can change and improve how you feel, it is also the people in your life that make you feel better. I know I have talked about my wonderful friends many times on here, I have probably bored you all...but they are amazingly significant and I would never have got to where I am without them.

Friends pull you up by your boot straps when you need it; they bring wine, food and laughter back into your life when you are down, and they don't ask for anything in return. They will listen to the same story in order to help you heal, and they are pleased when actually you don't need them as much as you used to.

Don't get me wrong, we always need the friends that we choose...but there comes a time when walking alone is the better thing to do, rather than having someone to hold your hand across the road. My friends are respectful and proud of that, but I want them to know that I wouldn't now be walking taller, stronger and with a slight skip in my step if it wasn't for them.

Other people enter your life that become equally as important, but perhaps offer something that friends can not give you. After all, as much as I love my friends I am unsure whether they could provide me with a snog and a cuddle on a regular basis; and I am quite enjoying a snog and a cuddle with some regularity.

Life moves on, it changes...but as long as you have your friends, someone special for cuddles and it is good then you can accomplish anything. So working on that basis then, my future accomplishments hold no bounds.