New seasons and new beginnings
Hi everyone. I hope you all had a great summer. I’m very pleased that this was the year we chose to do a UK holiday because I think we landed on our feet with the sunshine.
We took our daughter who has Williams Syndrome (a bit like autism and Down's Syndrome) up to Edinburgh so we could sing in our choir at The Fringe. It was brilliant. I was so pleased she had that opportunity, and all the choir members really look out for her. It’s just a great sense of community.
On one of the days we ventured up to the castle. Now, I know she struggles to walk too far, but she made it up the steep slope and I rewarded her efforts with a slushie from an ice cream van.
We decided to go and look at the Crown Jewels. I’m an absolute sucker for shiny things. We started to queue. There were probably 150 to 200 people in the queue around us, and suddenly her ear defenders (which she uses to knock bock sensory noise) broke. They literally just fell apart in her hands. She started screaming. I mean like someone properly screaming in absolute distress, fear and anger. Now the problem is she can’t help it. She’s wired differently to you and I. If it was a typical 19-year-old you could either give them a bollocking or a hug, couldn’t you?
But sometimes with learning disability your guess is as good as mine. There’s no handbook and it’s extremely difficult.
Calmly, and ignoring the audience, I asked, “Right love, let’s break it down. What’s the problem?”
“They’ve broken,” she screamed.
“What’s the solution?”
“No solution.”
“Wrong. The solution is to google where we can buy ear defenders in Edinburgh and do that.”
With the exception of the American lady behind me in the queue who told me, “It’s OK” (and I loved her for it) I looked none of the other onlookers in the eye – years of experience. You don’t judge people for judging you if you don’t see them judging you. And we cracked on regardless. (Also years of experience)
My husband extracted our raging daughter from the queue and took her away to a bench. He wasn’t bothered about seeing diamonds. Me and my lad remained in the queue and saw the shiny jewels. There’s only a few. It took 5 minutes, but they were fabulous.
I needed her to know that we get it. She’s in distress, but also the world carries on. It’s reassuring, isn’t it? You can rage and scream, but I’ve found a solution to your problem. I’m going to see the jewels and then we’re going to Screwfix to buy ear defenders. There’s an order of things.
I nearly cried, but importantly I felt, I didn’t. I hoped I showed her control in the face of adversity. I have no idea whether that will help her in future. I doubt it somehow, but it feels important to know I’ve done everything I can do for myself.
The only thing left to do afterwards was a pub near Screwfix. We’re British, this works for us. The pub was called Dirty Dicks. It had candles lit at “early doors” when the daylight still flooded in to the centuries-old dark oak room. The candle light and the day light made the cut glass candle holders and amber beer glasses dance like cut precious stones. We ended the day playing games and laughing and finding the stunning sparkle in these precious light moments.
Our shiny and new Autumn collection has landed. We’ve spent all this week making the website look fabulous again. There are still a few bargains to be had in the “Outlet” tab on the website, so have a look if you get chance. If you see anything you like in the main collection, then the code AW15 is taking 15% OFF full-priced things.
Have a fabulous week good people! Keep searching for the sparkle!
X Deb
