X is for X Chromosome!

Shout out

And a big thank you to Julia

Who suggested X chromosome for the letter X

You are on the ball today Julia

Great suggestion

And it means I get to write about the women in my life

I am blessed to have some amazing and strong women in my life

I often write about my mother

And what a rock of support and love she is 

For a little woman

She is the strongest person I know

When she was my age 

She already had four children

Three girls and a boy 

She lived with an alcoholic husband up until the year 2001

Then three of her children developed addiction and mental health issues

Yes

She has been through the mill

And she did it with the grace and elegance that always surrounds her

In recovery 

I have become very close to my mother

And she never ceases to amaze me 

She is super smart

An avid reader

She can hold a conversation with the best of them

But she is humble with it

She doesn't judge

She doesn't discriminate

People are drawn to her

Like moths to a flame 

She leads a very active life 

Even though she is retired

She has many friends 

And is always doing something

And going somewhere

She has always supported me

As I have often said 

If love and support could have made me well

I would have recovered a long time ago

She has never given up on me 

And has gone to extreme lengths to help me over the years 

I moved back in with my mum ten years ago

And I love it 

I love spending time with her 

I love doing things with her

She is interesting and interested

If I grow up to be half the woman she is 

I will be doing pretty well

I also have two sisters 

Who like me

Struggle with life 

My sisters are also strong independent women 

And people I look up to 

Again

They are super intelligent 

And bags of common sense

Something I struggle with

I am lucky to have such great sisters 

Then there are the professionals

As you know 

I started seeing Mary a few years ago

And have been seeing her on and off since then 

From the start

She has been a constant support

We clicked straight away

And she is so knowledgeable about EDs and life in general

I actually saw Mary earlier today

It was great to be able to tell her how well things are going 

She reminded me of the first time I met her 

And how far I have come

She regularly mentions the conference I spoke at

And the amazing feedback mine and my mothers speech got 

Today 

She brought up the subject of discharge 

I am nervous to let Mary go

So we decided I would see her once a month from now on

And see how we go from there 

This is good 

It's all good

I will miss Mary 

But I know I can ring her anytime 

And I know it's time to move on

To spread my wings and fly 

The other professional in my life is Breda

I started seeing Breda over a year ago 

After I relapsed

I liked her from the start

She is no nonsense 

Practical

Sound 

On the ball

Full of good advice

I have seen many addiction counsellors over the years

And Breda is by far the best 

I see her about every three weeks

And even though I am now very much clean and sober 

It's no harm to keep going to see her

I love being a female 

A strong, recovering female 

And am surrounded by such brilliant women 

No offence to men 

But we are the movers and shakers of this world 

You've heard the saying 

Behind every great man

Is a great woman

I think this is so true 

I am proud

Proud to be a woman

And proud of the fellow women around me

And you 

My beautiful blogger family 

I know the vast majority of you are female 

And you have become part of my story 

You have been such a support to me over the years 

This blog has been a life line 

And I feel so blessed to have met some incredible women from all over the world 

Yes 

We are strong 

We are independent 

We are learning 

Growing 

Thriving 

And blossoming 

They say at the meetings 

That women should stick together 

And the men too

I agree with this 

As there is no agenda with a fellow woman 

Well I guess there could be

But most of the time there's not 

So this post is dedicated to you 

My blogger family 

And I don't write thdt flippantly 

You are like family to me