You have no idea how it warms my heart to get comments from readers, and I have a sort of wondering amazement that people say they have actually missed it when I don't do an entry for a couple of weeks.  Sometimes I do question the purpose of my blog.   Some friends have suggested it is "therapy" for me, but I like to think it is more than that.  Sometimes I wonder if I am not just doing a glorified sort of Facebook entry.  Or a personal diary of my life but putting it out there in public.

But basically, I hope that by conveying what is going on in my life, and some of the issues I am struggling with in my own life journey, I am able to connect with other people and discuss things that resonate with them too.   And find common ground with others who are carers, or have had to put someone in a nursing home, or have had contact with multiple sclerosis in other ways -- or, simply, those who have imagination or compassion and can identify with some of the issues, as I share my life online.

So thank you, Lesley and Ruth, for your good wishes about Christmas, and Harriet for sharing that you also care for someone with MS (and, you "missed" my blog!!!) , and another Harriet for helping me fix a crooked picture and that it wasn't really about ham it was about Muslims, and Daphne for your lovely remark that you were moved by the story.  And Elizabeth who knows what it is like to have MS and sit in a wheelchair while people talk over your head, and Cranky for advice about a wheelchair vehicle.  And everyone else who adds something to my blog, I wish I knew you all.

I am going away -- yes, again!! seems I am never home, as Don has never tired of telling me in all the years of our marriage -- a week away at the beach with family.  So I might get to an internet cafe but I doubt it.

Of course, Don can't come.  This is one time when I don't have a pang at doing something he is missing out on, because he was never all that keen on beach holidays.  It was more my thing than his, plus it was a great family thing.  But for Don --- the sand! and his fair skin always burned! (while I tanned at the drop of a hat)!  and all the packing and all the unpacking! and a quick dip is all very well, but a whole afternoon in the surf???

I'll be gone less than a week, and he says he will be fine.