What a year so far

Hi my darling gorgeous Mum,

There is not a day goes by that I don’t think of you multiple times.

It has been quite a year so far, with you missed terribly through it all.

I started the new year by getting flu, genuine proper flu. Like the flu I had when you say by my bedside for 3 days Mum.

Dad was a superstar and came and helped with our girls for a few days so Mike could go to work as I was struggling to just get out of bed.

It took a week for me to be strong enough to do anything and another week before I started to feel human again. Literally just before Mike and Chloe’s birthday.

It did make the preparations for the birthday a little crazy as I only had a couple of days.

I got this great idea into my head that I wanted to make Chloe’s cake so I found instructions on how to make a dirt block cake (from Minecraft, a game she is obsessed with).

It took me about 4 and a half hours Mum, with Dad’s hell. I made the cakes and Dad kindly cut out all of the fondant squares and this was the end result….

I then thought that maybe I should make one for Mike as well so he got a chocolate cake covered in sprinkles. Not quite the same amount of effort but a homemade cake 😊.

Their birthday was a lovely day. As it was Saturday and our gorgeous big girl turned 10 everybody came down for it.

Chloe chose Flip Out and Kaspas (an American dessert house, you would love it Mum) in the morning.

With everybody home we met up on the Sunday and headed to Sissinghurst Castle.

Going to National Trust properties always makes me think of you and how much you used to love walking around the gardens.

We had a lovely walk, made some dens, played pooh sticks and of course had to get a coffee on the way round.

The next week, in true Pen style, life changed again.

I had been struggling with just being at home. I absolutely love being there for my girls more but I am not designed to not do anything else.

I saw a job advert for a Digital Marketing Manager role at Rift Ltd (Jan Post’s company) just before Mike and Chloe’s birthday. I figured I would apply and see what happened.

I put in my cv on the Wednesday and I was contacted and asked to do a phone interview on the Friday. This went well and I was asked to attend an interview with the Marketing Director on the Monday.

We had a very busy and full weekend but at the same time I was trying to prep for this.

I went in on the Monday and was there for an hour and a half. It went really well which showed by me being called Monday afternoon and asked to go for a second interview on the Tuesday.

This was meant to be 30 mins and ended up being another hour and a half.

I was then called Tuesday afternoon and offered the job 😬. Omg Mum, in less than a week I had applied for and been offered a job. I know you would say typical Pen but I truly couldn’t believe it.

They agreed the hours I wanted so I work 8-5 mon, tues and thurs and 09:30 to 14:30 on a wed and fri. This is great as I still get to take to school and pick up our girls twice a week.

In the meantime, Mike’s job is going really well in London, he is loving it which is fantastic. I know you would be so proud of him Mum.

I went and saw my gorgeous Nikki before I started work and found her to be having a tough time so we are doing the hundred happy days together. We are both loving doing it and I love finding happy moments every day, especially when it’s a bit tough.

Last week, my first week in my job was challenging as Steph took Bea to hospital as she was really unwell.

On Monday evening the news to us was that. Ea had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and that we had a road ahead, especially Steph and Ed to learn what to do.

On the Tuesday morning, I got a call from Mandy to tell me that Bea was being rushed to St Thomas’ for emergency surgery.

It turned out her bowel had stopped working and was poisoning her body. She had 4 and a half hours of surgery she was moved to intensive care. She was so poorly Mum that we were truly worried about her for a while.

She has pulled through and now has a stoma bag but she is so excited about not having any troubles anymore that you feel pleased for her.

We took Chloe to see her last Sunday which was lovely.

I am now in the second week of work and it is going really well. I am really enjoying it. It looks like we are definitely going to be moving house this year. I am so excited about it but gutted you aren’t here to help us choose.

It’s been lovely chatting to you Mum.

I miss you and love you very much.

Lots of love

Me xxxx