Thank you to all my readers

I just wanted to thank everyone again for all the wishes, comments, text messages, private messages and emails over the past few days.

I started my blog three years ago as a way of telling my life story. My students often say ‘you should write down your life story’ and we once had a discussion in class as to what I would call my book. I decided to call it ‘This Bug’s Life’ because sometimes I feel like a bug squashed under the shoe of life. Other times I feel like a cockroach surviving after a nuclear explosion – my life has been really tough but my survival instinct just keeps me going. And the third reason is that I have always felt like a bumble bee – they aren’t supposed to be able to fly but they don’t know that so they do it anyway. I have a bumble bee tattooed on my hip to remind me of all the times people have told me I wouldn’t be able to do something and I proved them wrong.

So it became a blog rather than a book because I looked up the domain name and it was available. But I am not a talker about very personal things so this blog has ended up being about my daily life, my passions, my interests. And slowly it gained readers. From three a day at the beginning to thousands a day now.

I also started to be active and administrate Facebook groups. Because I wanted people to have a safe place to chat about their interests and get help and advice. Because I enjoy helping people and it is fun.

And somewhere along the line without me noticing, the readers and group members became friends. Who really cared about me.

I expected to disconnect for a few days to recuperate from this illness and for no one to notice. I did not tell anyone because I thought I would slip off the radar without fuss or being noticed. Well people did notice. And they cared. I have been moved and humbled beyond belief by the outpouring of love and caring. I logged back into Facebook to find thread about thread of love and wishes for me.

I have always dreaded being one of those people who die but nobody realises until they start to smell or are found mummified years later. To my utter joy (as macabre as this sounds) I have found out that that won’t be the case. Because I have friends. And that means the world to me.

Thank you all.