Sunset

You find me in a reflective, nay pensive mood this evening. I have driven back from Spridlington, a village north of Lincoln, a beautiful and quiet place. As I drove back towards Mansfield, which is neither beautiful nor quiet, I was driving towards the setting sun and its vivid red colours filled the evening sky, painting the Trent valley with its majestic splendour.

As I drove along I was listening to some music and watching the changing scenery and thinking about this day - a day that has involved so many actions that if I were to list them it would take hours - from sitting up in bed, making a cup of tea, brushing my teeth, climbing into the car, talking, walking, laughing....

We take it for granted that we can do these things with differing degrees of ability and taking into account our age, our flexibility, any illnesses or injuries we have - yes, we take it for granted.

I conduct many funeral ceremonies for people who have suffered with dementia and Alzheimer's, it is a terrible disease, your mind turning to mush whilst your body carries on regardless. Today I carried out a funeral for a lady who had suffered a disease which is much worse - motor neurone disease.

The process is very cruel as you may well know - your mind stays sharp whilst your body slowly grinds to a halt - I can't think of anything worse. You end up unable to carry out any of the simple actions that I took for granted all day.

I know this is not a very cheery blog but I don't feel very cheery, even a beautiful sunset couldn't lift my spirits - and I doubt the bottle of Pinot I am about to tackle will ease the the situation - but at least I can open the bottle, lift the glass and swallow the wine.

If you want to know more about MND - click here.