Sugar and Spice and all things nice!

It is perhaps  with a little bit of embarrassment that I still keep the "Blog picture" above, as the one that is of me receiving "Inspirational Woman of the Year" award! I was shocked to get it, and am still a little  dumbstruck! 
But it is So meaningful, when I consider my journey as a woman, and  where I came from.   So please do forgive my showing off!
  
One of the cruellest legacies that comes along with the results of childhood clergy abuse is the isolation. 
As I get further away from it, I can look back and am more acutely aware of the subtle, less obvious damage caused. 

One of the  things that was very difficult as a girl growing up with "dirty secrets" was the isolation from other girls!

As a survivor of clergy abuse, my world was very secretive and hidden, mine wasn't a story you could could talk about round the camp  fire as a Brownie! It wasn't the sort of thing you could giggle about with your friends while having a "sleepover " when thy were discussing their first kisses and  flirting. 

My secrets had to be kept at all costs, it was an imperative, and so I got very good at "making things up! I reinvented myself on a regular basis!



When others were bonding, forming life long friendships, I was like an alien looking in at a world I badly wanted to belong to.

By the age of fifteen I was already a drinking alcoholic, mentally and emotionally disturbed and really quite crackers! 
Not for me was the "occasional glass of Babycham" I was mostly smashed out of my face, didn't know where I had been or who with, and certainly not "best friend" material.

I guess I always felt ashamed  at the side of other girls, I think I envied their "niceness" their femininity, I was usually full of rage.

So in my recovery (from so many things!) One of the most precious possessions  I have these days is a connection with wonderful women!

I cannot begin to tell you how much they mean to me! 

My two beautiful daughters, accomplished and grounded, both wonderful Mothers!

      
My amazing daughter in law, battling a terrible condition with dignity and humour. 

My delightful granddaughter poised on her new career and  marriage, my recovery friends, all having emerged from such a dark place. My survivor friends, who know just how I m feeling without words. The most amazing women I have the privilege of teaching, the humour, the compassion, the commitments I witness.The Humanist women who have taught me so much, and the women I have met at the conferences and rallies who have marched beside me, and shared their stories too.

The brilliant and beautiful Annie who keeps me on the straight and narrow in the office!

The lovely women who are my next door neighbours (on both sides!!) and their daughters! 
My lovely Scottish, Irish,Welsh, American, Dutch, Italian, French, Australian, Canadian, Polish, Nepali sisters who give me such joy! 
I treasure the mimosas that have been given to me in Italy as I have been there on two occasions for the  "Fiesta della donna"   what a delightful tradition! So I am sending ALL of my sisters these  mimosas, with  love and solidarity and gratitude!! 
A Very Happy International Women's day!