#dosomethingyummy - what's it all about?

This post is all about #dosomethingyummy which is part of the CLIC Sargent Do Something Yummy awareness campaign. 

I've come to this via an old school friend, who blogs brilliantly over at Typecast, and she explains her dosomethingyummy campaign here.

I've been so busy I've completely missed out on the first 3 link-ups, so I wanted to rectify that by trying to write something, in brief, for each of the prompts.

The writing prompt for Week 1 was "What Your Children Mean To You"

My children mean the world to me. They have changed me completely - the jury is still out on whether that is for the better, or worse.....! As I put in a recent presentation (see my Little Miss post), before children I was Mrs.Happy, not a care in the world and easy-going, but SC (since children) I have morphed into Mrs.Worry. Mrs.Happy is still there, desperately trying to get out though... there's another blog post coming on that soon!

I cannot imagine ever having to go through the pain of having a child with cancer, but then again I couldn't have ever imagined having to go through the pain, and joy, of having a child with Special Needs before it happened. Mums are strong because we just have to be.

 

The writing prompt for Week 2 was "What Family Means To You"

My family is a large one - I have 12 cousins, mostly on my mum's side (good old Irish Catholics, eh?!  ). My happy family unit as I grew up at home consisted of mum, dad, me and my two brothers (one older, one younger) and our pet dog, Smokey. My Dad has always maintained that family are more important than friends.... hmmm, that should start a good discussion?!

I feel extremely lucky that I've led such a varied and easy life on the whole. My Dad and Mum both worked very hard when they were younger to do the best they could for us, and we're all very grateful. 

We had an unusual upbringing, in that my Dad spent 6 months at a time living and working away on an oil tanker (did I ever tell you that we spent 6 months living on one of these with him, moored just off Grand Bahama Isle, when I was around 9 years old? No?! Hmm, there's another blog post right there...). This meant that my mum was almost like a single mum for half the year, and it's only really since becoming a mum myself that I've understood how difficult this must have been for her, and also for my Dad being out of our lives for large periods. I do know they wrote very long letters to each other; I hope they've kept them.....
There's so much more I could write about family, but I've just remembered I'm supposed to be keeping this brief, so let's jump on into

The writing prompt for Week 3 which was "Getting Together"

One of my best friends has texted me just recently to suggest we get together again. Sadly we don't live near each other, and due to busy lives we don't get to meet up anywhere near as often as we'd like to, but that never changes the friendship. I can't wait to see her again, for a proper chat and catch up, so I'm excited about that.
In May I'm getting the chance to fly off to get together with a couple of my old Uni friends. One has been living in Italy for a couple of years, and the other has lived in America since we graduated. I miss them lots too and I'm really looking forward to celebrating our 'big' birthdays in a bit of style and sun .
I'd also just like to mention the great mums from the fantastic Spectrum Girls support group, who I found after our diagnosis for Sasha. You have all become instant best friends and I know we'll help each other for a long time along this rocky path.

The final writing prompt for week 4 is "Survival"

I'll have to admit I've found this prompt the most difficult. Bearing in mind cancer is the driver behind this campaign, I'll have to bring it back to that. My maternal Grandpa died several years ago now with bowel cancer. My mum's youngest brother died, also several years ago now, at the age of 50 from cancer. My Auntie, his wife, who we sadly don't get to see much now, has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. I'm hoping she is the Survivor.

I think it's true to say that nearly all families have been affected in some way by this terrible disease, and yet it's something we all still don't have enough understanding of. CLIC Sargent are an amazing charity who dedicate their time and energy to helping children whose lives have been affected by cancer. I'm sure their support has created many Survivors. Please lend yours to them by retweeting, Facebook sharing, and getting involved in any way you can. Thanks.