Happy New Year!

Seeing as it’s New Year and everything, I thought it might be good to look back and evaluate. Like Jools Holland’s Hootenanny but without any famous faces and with more mentions of the C-word (not the really bad one, and not the one my mum in particular hates (that’s “crap” for the Ma Booth uninitiated…). ).

All in all, it’s been a pretty good year. Work has been ace, I’ve had two of my best days EVER (Royal Wedding Day and mastectomy day – something to do with the drugs methinks), I have re-discovered a five year olds love of jigsaws and I spent the first four months of the year with a more or less permanent tan. Even though I didn’t particularly want to get a dose of the old breast cancer, it’s not the worst thing in the world (see below), and it certainly does put things in perspective. Character building I believe the term is.

More than anything, my friends and family and even people I barely know have been nothing short of amazing. From bringing me Miss Marple box-sets and Carry On style jigsaws, shopping for wigs when doubled up in pain themselves (you know who you are), and making me endless cups of tea, chicken pies and ginger shortbread through to happily talking about anything and everything when it just gets too darned boring to bang on about cancer any more and simply sending me nice messages to say hello. I literally can’t list everything everyone’s done and said so far. I only hope that if any single one of them has to go through anything like this I can be as good a friend / sister / daughter / niece / cousin to them. I have certainly picked up some tips…

Then there’s the people you meet – people you’d never meet if you didn’t all have to have bits of your body chopped off. Funny, brave, amazing women who just pick themselves up and get on with it and make jokes about being bald and boobless. And the doctors and nurses who deal with you when you’re upset, off your noggin on drugs, or just being plan flippant about the whole thing. And who make the whole thing eminently normal and deal-able with. Legends, each and every one.

So, it’s a bit schmaltzy all in all, but it’s much easier to say these things in type rather than having to man up and say it in person (far too high a risk of tears….).

And, as I said, there are way worse things in the world than breast cancer…..

 - Pretty much every other type of cancer where they actually have to open you up and chop out bits that actually DO something. My boob was nothing but a vanity project (I might not have mentioned it, but to clarify, I did have a GREAT rack. And it was only going to go south from here - I am in my thirties after all).

 - Losing a whole leg. Or arm.

 - Hangovers over the age of 30.

 - Pretty much anything Hitler did. I think he was quite nice to his niece but I think it’s safe to say that doesn’t cancel the rest out.

So, as we can see, every cloud has a silver lining. Happy New Year one and all - here's to much fun and games in 2012.