Dear Daniel

I have had to do a lot of really intense, somewhat depressing writing lately, but none of it has been for my Blog. It has been several months, and a lot has happened, so it is going to take some time to catch-you-up, my readers, but I shall try my best.

First-things-first, I want to direct you to the final part of one of my most recent posts, wherein I state “I am going to start by taking some space to try to find myself again,as a single, independent woman.”, and I must now confess that this independent, empowered single woman stance did not last long at all.

After a year of longing looks, almost-kisses, want-to-but-can’t moments, myself and one Douglas [Parkinson] “DTRd” (defined the relationship) and decided to officially date.

Illi-ism #5: Every Day Is Christmas Day

Welcome to December, and the “Holiday Season” of Christmas, Hanukah, Yuletide, Kwanzaa and various other religious, spiritual and cultural celebrations.

With this season comes a wonderful, worldwide sense of community spirit, kindness, giving, forgiveness, and other such positive attitudes and interactions between individuals.

Forget for a moment all the stresses, financial burdens, arguments and what-nots, and let us concentrate on that positivity. Some people may dislike Christmas, or may not celebrate it (or any of the other holidays), but even those people will surely notice the positivity that resonates from those around them.

A prime example from my own personal experience is when my then-fiancé and I had returned from outside of Thanet and it was very, very late and terribly cold, so we wanted to get a taxi. On arrival at the taxi place, however, we found that neither of us had enough cash, nor anything in our bank accounts. We were well-and-truly “skint” and would have to take the long walk home in very inhospitable weather at stupid-AM. Overhearing our distress, however, was another Thanet resident who asked us where we needed to get to and proceeded to state that she was “headed that way anyway” so we could get her taxi home with her, without any charge. “Thank you so, so much” we replied in gratitude, and were met with the statement “no, no need to thank me! It’s Christmas!”. It was a wonderful thing, but I know in my heart that this would not have happened were the month January or October, for example.

All this goodness is, indeed, good, but my thought for you today to say is… “Why only at Christmas?”. Seriously, where is all that overwhelming positivity the other three-hundred-and-sixty-four (not including “Eves”, Boxing Day, etc) days of the year?

Did you know that food banks (where spare food is donated for people who have little or no food in their cupboards), charity shops, soup kitchens (where homeless people go to eat free, freshly cooked meals) become overwhelmed with donations and volunteers in December? Yet the rest of the year, these places struggle.

Why only get the entire family together for Christmas? Why only give presents for Christmas, and Birthdays? Why not show each other your love as often as you can?

One of my “Illisms” - something I will write about on a later date – is to “treat every day like Christmas Day”, and I have decided to be literal with it this year. I have recorded a video about what I plan to do and started another Blog to write about my “adventures”. I would really appreciate it if you all watched the video and read the Blog. This is going to be a big part of my life this year, which I hope will really help to combat my depression and of course help others who are in need, as well. 

Thank you, and a “Merry-Every-Day-Of-The-Year” to you all! #365Christmases ! :-)