‘Years end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us, cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right’ – Oprah Winfrey
One thing I’ve learnt this year is that the pleasure pain theory is so true. 2013 was one of the happiest and saddest years in a long time for different reasons. Whilst I was given my dream wedding, followed by my dream honeymoon in March and April, my best friend’s mum was diagnosed with inoperable cancer in early march and sadly passed away in December.
Here’s a brief rundown of the highs and lows of 2013:
The year started off rocky, as I was quite poorly, suffering from severe pins and needles in my right cheek, which no one seemed able to diagnose. I also part took in Dry January after a rather indulgent Christmas, which was difficult, it’s hard to differentiate between a Friday night and any other night of the week if you don’t have a glass of wine to look forward to. We ended up just bickering and going to bed early. I’m sure health wise though it probably did us some good.
I spent most of February back and forth to the doctors trying to get to the bottom of my cheek numbness. Eventually, at the end of my tether, and with a wedding and month long honeymoon round the corner we decided to see a neurologist privately and got an MRI which confirmed nothing sinister was going on. Funnily enough, not long after the scan, my symptoms almost disappeared, indicating it was possibly stress related in the end.
Come March; wedding countdown had truly begun and saw us both off on our respective stag and hen parties (both in York) and finally getting hitched at the end of March (I say finally, as we’d been together 9 years at this point). I can honestly say it was the best day of my life, just a shame you only get to do it the once really. We were really flattered that people had made an effort to travel halfway round the world to see us get married and I was honoured to become Mrs Newman.
The excitement didn’t end there as on 1st April we jetted off on honeymoon to Sydney, New Zealand, Cairns and Dubai on a month long trip. It was the perfect way to start off married life, and what’s even more impressive is we managed 10 nights in a campervan without killing each other! I was also able to fulfil a live long ambition of doing a skydive, and what better place to do it than on a sunny morning over the Great Barrier Reef. The only down side is any holiday we take now will pale into insignificance!
The come down form that trip was pretty spectacular and May was a fairly quiet and depressing month for me. We still had some post wedding admin to keep us busy but other than that were just settling into married life and trying to get back into a routine after 18 months of excitement! June was pretty similar other than we went to see Bon Jovi in Sunderland with my brother and sister-in-law which was one of the best concerts I’ve been to in a very long time!
July was birth and birthday month as we welcomed yet 2 more little boys to the Newman side of the family (Alex and Edward), and this year being extra special and Dave’s gran turned 100 and received the much coveted telegram from the queen, which she reminds us about every time we visit (as so she should!) It was also my niece’s 4th birthday at the beginning of the month and my 31st at the end of the month, both of which were celebrated which copious amounts of jelly, ice cream and playing in the back garden!
Following what felt like yet another month of excess, I decided to try the Insanity at home exercise programme, and I have to say and rather proud that I lasted a whole 2 weeks on it. My husband pointed out that it would probably be a better idea to take up running, the thinking being that we should take advantage of being outside whilst the weather was nice and had all winter to exercise in front of a DVD! So towards the end of August and through September I embarked on my latest fitness attempt and took up running. For someone who swore they would only ever run if being chased, I was rather impressed that last Sunday I managed to run 8 miles without stopping. If you’d told me at the beginning of the year I would be running 8 miles I would have laughed in your face. So that’s been a big achievement for me.
September also saw our good friends Brian & Faye getting married, with Dave acting as one of the ushers (and very handsome he looked too I think you’d all agree) it was a brilliant day with great friends, I think you appreciate weddings more after you’ve been married yourself because you know more about the care and attention that goes into them.
October was another quiet month for us, I continued with the running, reaching a mile stone of running to the airport and back without stopping (5 miles in total) which was just before we flew off to Barcelona for a short break at the beginning of November. It was a much needed break, not least because the weather was beautiful, but it felt a long time since we’d been on Honeymoon so nice to recharge out batteries and drink 1 euro Rioja!
December crept up as it normally does and I think I set a personal recorded for the number of Christmas parties attended in one festive period (5)!
It was also this month on 16th where we got the news that my best friend’s mum had taken a turn for the worse and was being admitted to a Hospice. She sadly passed away on 21st December, peacefully and with all her family around her. It’s sobering to think we’re getting to an age now where it’s not the grandparents we’re losing anymore, and that our parents won’t be around forever. It’s certainly made me thankful for all the wonderful people I have in my life and I couldn’t be prouder of how amazingly Angela has coped through it all and has been a tower of strength for her dad and brother. The funeral was a beautiful celebration of Lynne’s life, exactly how she would have wanted it; I’m honoured to have known her.
On a happier note, we welcomed a new addition to the extended family on 30th December as my cousin gave birth to a beautiful baby girl Olivia May, the first of the next generation, so no doubt she’s going to be suitably spoiled rotten! I’ve always known I was a great cousin but now I’m officially a great cousin!
So I’m not doing resolutions for 2014, other than to say I want to spend every spare second doing the things I love, with the people I love and continue to be happy and healthy.
