525,600 minutes...A Year in the Life...

Some of you may be wondering why this Blog is titled: 525,600 minutes. Those of you, like me, who love the rock musical 'Rent' will already be humming along. This is the 'overture' song at the beginning of the musical, that sets out what you are going to be watching and listening to. This song details ' A year in the life'..' A year supposedly takes 526,600 minutes- and no, I'm not going to be doing the Maths to check.

Rent follows a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in New York City's East Village in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. The show follows them over the space of a year when lives will change both for the good,...and for the tragic. Love is made and broken, disease is fought and lived with, drugs and decisions are taken...and a wonderful selection of numbers are sung. The story is loosely based on Puccini's Opera La Boheme, but if  like me you would rather have a root canal than suffer several hours of Puccini, there is plenty here to engage, inspire and enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj7LRuusFqo


It is true what they say: the years really DO go faster the older you get. I have already received my 'Family Organiser Diary' which I will start to slowly fill with birthdays and appointments, as I segue from this year to the next. 

Being organized is critical when you suffer from ME brain fog.  Without something being written in my diary then it either doesn't happen...or happens on the wrong day...probably at the wrong time...I will spare you my brain fog stories of putting milk in the bedroom cupboard, forgetting my own address, or the daily struggle not to lose my way in the Lord's Prayer...so far, so embarrasing!

As I start to browse through the pages that have already been lived, I revisit this year and am struck by how much of the year has surprised and in some cases pulled the rug out from under me. The good memories, the time with loved ones, finding a special new friend, a fantastic audio book or a jumper that looks fab on me, the times a surprise message or email or photo or bunch of flowers, or bag of apples, or cup of tea in a clifftop cafe seemed to pass all too quickly... and in other moments it seemed as if time had frozen and I could not see how to take the next breath. 

 I could not have anticipated some of the 'small wins' I have achieved this year( I have stroked a donkey, paddled in the sea and been away on my own)...or some of the health concerns for my friends and myself. Also in the 'debits' column: I could not have predicted I would still be awaiting the result of my PIP application ( one year ago this week!!), that world politics would be quite so unstable, or that terrorism would become such a regular occurence in London. I could not have believed how much pain I have experienced or that ME, pain and Pots would worsen overall.. that I would need to buy some bigger clothes ( boo! hiss!) OR that I would have the confidence to start a new Blog!!

.Looking back, ( in the words of Carrie Bradshaw): ' I couldn't help but wonder....how do I measure the last year?'

Do I measure the year by the friends, the joy, the creativity, the kindness..?

..or by the plans derailed, the flare-ups and the times of desperation or worry?

This song from Rent provides the answer: Looking back on 2017 or forward to 2018,whatever life throws at us, if we stay focused on LOVE then nothing can really be bigger than that. :-)

As the song says:' Measure Your Life In LOVE'

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure - measure a year?
In daylights - in sunsets
In midnights - in cups of coffee
In inches - in miles
In laughter - in strife

In - five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life..?

How about love?
How about love?
How about love?
Measure in love

Seasons of love
Seasons of love

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes

Measure, measure your life in love

Seasons of love
Seasons of love