19 for 19…
- World Transplant Games. Newcastle. August. Let’s do this! Training is underway.
- British Transplant Games. Newport. July.
- Write more blogs. Hope people read some.
- Get a job of some description. Earn some money.
- Spend said money, hopefully traveling and doing lots of cool things.
- Learn to drive. Seriously. Must learn to drive.
- Talk about Organ Donation, mental health and other important issues whenever and wherever I can. Make a difference.
- Get some new Personal Bests in and out of the swimming pool.
- Read more books.
- Don’t leave what can be done today, until tomorrow. Just do it now.
- Sort out sleeping pattern? Unlikely.
- Try new foods. Not very good at this. But don’t want to be twenty and still eating a slight variation of the same dish in every restaurant. Time to expand the horizons.
- Be more of an ethical consumer. Look into where companies money goes, how they treat their workers and the environment. Buy responsibly.
- More nights out. Party while you can.
- Educate myself more about issues that affect us all. Climate change. Feminism. Politics. Poverty. Be aware of the world around me.
- Move out. Hopefully. Travel somewhere, do something, fly the nest.
- Try stay out of hospital. As much as possible. Take meds, eat well etc etc and keep myself alive and fit.
- Spend time with the people I love. Have great experiences. Laugh with them. Enjoy the little moments.
- Be ambitious. Be kind. Be happy. Be myself.
I started this year with a dip on the freezing cold Ballycastle beach. There is a slight possibility that I am actually crazy.
I hope that this year is a great one for all of you.
This year will mark ten years since my second transplant, another big milestone for me. Yet another year that I have goals and ambitions and hopes for, because of the gift I was given by a total stranger and their family.
Let’s make 2019 happy.
Lucia X
(First posted on 1st January 2019.) And thanks to that stranger and their family, for the most part, that’s how the year went. We didn’t get far with the learning to drive bit and Lucia didn’t move out. There was a lot of happiness, and much of it was sparked by Lucia’s profound ability to create it, for herself and for others. But there is no such thing as a foreseeable future. The year ended with Lucia’s fourth transplant. Although what followed has been unimaginable, nothing will take away our gratitude to that fourth donor family, and their courage to say yes in the depth of their own pain. They gave Lucia a chance, gave all of us some more time together, and their kindness remains. Lucia would want them to be proud…