Sunday, April 24, 2011

Proof of my insanity?

I was looking down a list of local events last week and came across a mention of a fundraising event that made me think "Hey that could be fun" in an idle kind of way.  Normally i would forget about it just as soon as I thought of it, but for some reason it stuck in my mind.

I think there are a few reasons for this - I spend all my time either with the boys, running Bright Moon or doing the various voluntary positions that I do.  Sometimes it seems there's very little 'me' time left, and sometimes it feels like I'm not even sure who 'me' is anymore.  When you become a Mum your life changes and you take on many roles.  Presumably, all of these roles add up to make the "real me" but sometimes being a mum, a business woman and a volunteer isn't enough.

I used to be a little crazy, very impulsive and an up for almost anything kind of person.  Now I have to plan our lives with military precision, which comes partly from having children and partly from having an autistic child who demands a very ordered life.  So when I saw the RNLI were organising an abseil down Southwold Lighthouse, I jumped at the chance! (If you'll excuse the pun!)

It felt a little crazy and very impulsive, however I did pause for 24 hours to think about it and instead of managing to talk myself out of it, I picked up a friend also willing to do it.  So we both signed up and have agreed to abseil down Southwold Lighthouse on 14th August to raise money for the RNLI.  All 102ft of it! Neither of us like heights so this could certainly be challenging, although I must confess I'm finding the thought of the 92 steps up the lighthouse a rather more terrifying proposition!

I've also decided that I need to lose some weight beforehand (I have a major cake and chocolate addiction) so the challenge is to lose 3 stone before August as well. Oh yes, I like a challenge or two to keep me going!

The RNLI does such fantastic work and it's all funded by voluntary donations, which seems crazy really when you consider the work that they do.  So to be challenging and stretching myself and raising money at the same time, is a great feeling.  Plus, Eldest Moonchild is a BIG fan of visiting the Aldeburgh Lifeboat and of rescue tractors (they help put the boat in/get it back out of the sea).  Please take some time to read about the work of the RNLI.

I love being a Mum, I'm devoted to my boys and feel a little guilty that it's taken something like this to give me a little buzz. I shouldn't need to do crazy things anymore - I have responsibilities.  But the truth of the matter is that I didn't really change when I had the boys, I am still the same person underneath.  I'm still the same girl who went out clubbing with a plaster cast and had to have it reset the day after because I broke the cast by dancing on it.  I'm still the same person who wants to sit on a beach at midnight in winter and drives 100 miles to do it.  The person who went travelling around Alaska on her own is still there - a little buried underneath all the intervening years and the responsibilities, but there all the same and it does me good to give her an outing.  It probably does my family good too.

Please sponsor us if you are able, we would both appreciate it and so would the RNLI.  We want to remind everyone who we are, that we have a name other than "Mum" and that friends can take on the world.

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