Sometimes in life, if you are lucky, you may come across someone that changes your life forever. I have been that lucky.
Two and a half years ago Gill and I met on a Forces website. We discovered that not only were we posted to Gibraltar at the same time but in the same week. When we met, and she will murder me for saying this, it was in a public toilet and I thought she was stalking me! From that moment my life changed.
We were both passionate about cross stitching but I had left all my stash in storage as there is quite a damp problem in Gibraltar. Gill came to my rescue and lent me some of hers. A few days later I found her making a card...and my new addiction was born! My hubby has never forgiven her for our dwindling finances!
A month later we both adopted unwanted cats from the Cat Welfare Society and decided that we wanted to help. They were desperate for volunteers so every Saturday we would trudge up with our children and clean out over eighty cats! It was smelly and dirty but we loved it and last year we looked after over forty kittens in our houses alone!
Then came the news I was dreading. My husband was being sent out to Iraq. I didn't need to ask. Gill was there every time I cried through fear and loneliness and was by my side constantly.
By this time we had started a craft club from my front room as we wanted to meet other people and share our passion. It helped the time go whilst he was away but we soon realised that it could not continue from my tiny home.
We were offered some old Scout rooms and spent weeks removing rubble and decorating it. Gill and I were up there every spare minute we had and instead of begrudging the work we thrived on it. The room soon became our little haven away from the rest of the world. We were even featured in Papercraft Inspirations and we loved every minute of our new adventures!
Then my world literally fell apart. I became so ill I could barely move. Gill nagged me on daily basis to go to the Doctors but did I listen..no! Just before my husband returned from his tour of duty Gill found me at home in a really bad way. She looked after my children, kept my friends and family informed and basically took on my home.
She celebrated with me when we found out after my MRI that it was not MS and held my hand when they diagnosed FM instead.
In this time Gill had a lot going on in her own life but always, somehow, found the time for my family. We then had the best news ever...Gill was going to have a baby. We were all over the moon but things did not go smoothly for her from the start. There were lots of scares with the pregnancy in the early stages and everyday became a worry. Then once again everything changed. We all had another year to do in Gibraltar and had been planning what both our families would be doing together that summer.
We were posted back to the UK. It was devastating news and Gill was the first person I rang. We cried for three days solidly and our husbands wouldn't stop laughing at us!
I am now back in the UK and Gill will be following shortly. She is having a really hard time of things and even though we speak almost daily I just wish I was there to help. We were meant to be going back to Gibraltar for a visit in July but after our chat today we are going to back to stay at Gills in June instead....and I can't wait!
I miss our trips to La Linea market, hot chocolate and churros in Corks, jewellery shopping (how much junk jewelery can two woman buy in one day!!), Saturday night poker games, watching programmes in an afternoon that made us cry,de-fleaing kittens, meals out to the Chinese, spending hours on the internet looking at craft sites, her beautiful children, her grumpy husband (!) but most of all I miss her sat next to me whilst I am crafting...chatting about nothing and laughing at everything.
I haven't got a sister...but I found the nearest thing to one in Gibraltar.
Miss you babe,x
Sharon has very kindly said that I can use this LO in her friendship challenge...we were meant to do cards but I never read instructions properly...thanks hun!!
