I turned 18 yesterday. But I couldn’t post then, because I was too busy, ahem, studying. Yes. Of course I was… Kelley. *wink*

So, I am now officially an adult, and can do adult type things. Like attempt to drink a glass of dry red wine and splurt it over the table because it tastes like paint stripper, and eventually discover the joy of a white wine spritzer. And go to the off license and buy the alcohol for my own party, with my aunties money, just because I CAN. (Over here the drinking age is 18 for anyone who may be confused by that.) Naturally having to show the man my ID, because, dude, there is no way I look 18. I get ID’d for 15 rated films. (A lot of fourteen year olds apparently want to buy French war films…).

And I can vote. Or at least I can, just as soon as there is something for me to vote on. I can give blood again on the 9th of October, and I can join the bone marrow register.

I can also fail the Biology test I have on respiration in an hour and a half, because I spent 1.5 hours in the learning support centre-y thing this morning, and still cannot do Krebs. But we won’t go there. :p

We also won’t go where my auntie did, with her text to me at midnight on the 24th, “Happy birthday, now you can buy pr*n!” Only, of course, she said the proper word.

Now. I want to post some sort of celebratory picture, but I has a dilemma, because I don’t want it to be recognisable as me,  so I shall leave you with me as a four year old

Just wanted to share with everyone that my BIG sister has delivered a beautiful, and completely healthy baby girl, and both mummy and baby are doing excellently! She  doesn’t want me to share any specifics, which I am respecting, but know that the baby was a healthy weight, and the birth went as smoothly as any ever does. And that I am the proudest Auntie that ever lived

Without the NHS, Ski (blog name) would almost certainly be dead. He’s got severe quad CP, and my family would NEVER have been able to pay for all the treatment he’s received, over £2 million worth of straight medical treatment, not including all the therapeutic help he gets. He was a special care baby, with special medical needs, and the care he has received has been exemplary. I can’t express in words how thankful I am to every doctor, nurse, surgeon, therapist and member of staff we have met with, and have helped Ski to achieve in ways we never thought possible.

Without the NHS, my mum wouldn’t stand a chance of getting her heart bypass. This surgery would cost more than her entire savings tripled. And she wouldn’t have insurance, because she can’t work, and to pay for it would mean we couldn’t eat. And converting her savings into dollars, and what she gets from her pension-type thing, would mean she wouldn’t qualify for Medicaid. She’d be too rich. But, over here, she is being seen by 3 different specialists, who are making a plan personalised to her needs to bring her to a state where she is ready for surgery, and when she is, she WILL get her operation.

Without the NHS, my Grandma would have been bankrupt after her second heart attack. This would be the same Grandma who had heart surgery at 57, was diabetic, and lived until she was 70. 10 heart attacks later. She “died” 5 times before she finally ascended to heaven after making the decision, herself, to receive only palliative care, and signing a DNR. The NHS saved her life every time without any ageism.

Over here, everyone can get treatment without worrying about the bills. Over here, there are NOT the horrific waiting lists Fox News makes out, and people over 60 are eligible for treatments for illnesses, especially cancer.

I am proud to live in the UK where we have the NHS, and I am privileged to be able to benefit from the NHS.

I’ve blogged before about how the NHS has helped my family, from NHS direct, to the A&E unit. And above I’ve detailed how they’ve helped Ski, who is a close family member.

The NHS is fantastic, and the republicans may not like it (Come on dudes, you supported PALIN!), but they and Fox News can kiss my arse. Americans. You have 47 MILLION people who don’t have any insurance, that’s 47 million people who can’t get treatment for their illnesses. 47 million people who have either suffer, or risk bankrupting themselves. 47 million of your fellow Americans who live every day scared of getting hurt or injured because they don’t have insurance. How is that fair?

We’re 18th in the WHO list for healthcare, … Where’s the US? Oh yeah, that’s right… 37th.

And finally, if it wasn’t for the NHS, you wouldn’t be reading this right now. Because this would never have been written. I wouldn’t be here personally if it wasn’t for the staff of the NHS, who have saved my life twice, once before I was even born (my mum had to be admitted to hospital for 6 weeks before I was born for something that, un-treated would have killed both of us), and once when I was 2 years old, and had a severe reaction to a bee sting.

I love the NHS. And I truly thank God every day that we have it.

But, I don’t feel it. At all. People say to me, “In just under 2 months, you’re going to be an adult!” (Well, maybe not exactly that, but artistic licence here ) And I just don’t know what to say to them. Because, I don’t feel like I’m about to be an adult. I’m too immature to be an adult. Even towards people in my year at college, I feel immature, I don’t do the things they do, and I don’t feel ready to do the things they do. I don’t feel ready to stay out all night clubbing, or start having sex, or even to have a serious relationship with a partner. I feel like I relate better to my 15 year old cousin, and his friends, than I do people of my age. In the US, I’d probably have been held back a year, but that just doesn’t happen over here.

With a lot of my friends, going to college has… grown them up, so to speak. I think I missed the class where we were taught how to do that. I admit to being slightly jealous of the fact that they all seem to be handling it much better than I am. Everyone expects me to be extra-mature too, I was born in September, which means I have always been one of the oldest in my class, and my year-groups, which people seem to equate to meaning more grown-up. I’m not, I can tell you completely honestly that some of the August-born children, the youngest in my year, are much more mature than I am.

I’m not entirely sure all of this is a bad thing though. What would be bad would be if i realised this, and then still tried to fit in by forcing myself to do things before I’m ready to do them. The advantage of being almost an adult is that I can make decisions for myself, and there is no rule saying the second I turn 18 I have to go out drinking, or have sex, or do anything that I don’t want to do. Eventually, I am going to have to grow up, and already, in certain circumstances there are times when, however temporarily, I can feel like an adult. But, if I want to take an extra year or two to fully grow up, I can, and I am blessed to be able to do that, and have a family who will allow me to do that. I don’t have to move out when I turn 18, unlike some people I know, and I am not expected to be married in the near future. I have another whole year at college, and then, if I want, I can take a gap year to get properly ready for university. I’m sure in a couple of years I’ll want to go out drinking, want to get in a serious relationship, want to do all these things that seem so crazy to me at the moment.

I just don’t want to do them yet.

ETA- I originally wrote this on Thursday, hence the “happy Thursday” but it didn’t post

But finally, the summer is here!! And boy am I glad! I have had a very busy month, and thankfully, the hectic is calming down now.

So, how is everyone in blogworld? I have been reading, if not commenting or posting, so I hope I’m mostly up to speed with everyone.

Here, I’ve finished my AS level exams, and college for the summer. I also finally managed to complete my CoPE work, and I’ve been recommended for progression to year 13, pending my exam results. Which is a very good thing, because I LOVE my college.  I also have been on a trip to Uclan (university of central Lancashire), one to Lancaster Uni, and on an RE retreat, which was incredibly fun. I’ve been to a couple of gigs, got served in a pub (despite being 17, and looking about 13), and finally, I have spent a lot of time with my family.

Which brings me onto some good news. In my family, we’ve had some first words, first sitting ups, first teeth, first loss of a tooth, and an engagement! (not all from the same person, obviously!) My mum has experienced the fantastic dedication of the nurses at our local NHS hospital, and one further afield, and is looking good to get her heart bypass pretty soon!

If I could ask for your prayers for my blogging friend Cindy http://coletwins.blogspot.com/ They would be much appreciated, as her daughter has a recently discovered bladder problem, and they are waiting for the specialist to get back into town.

So, that is about it for now, I shall try and post more often over the summer, it should be a go, being less hectic!

Happy Thursday people!

You were an awesome mate, I only met you in year 10, but I felt like I’d known you my whole life. You were full of energy, and could always make me laugh. You will be so missed Youngy, I guess it’s true God only takes the good ones, because you were one of the best ever.

Rest in peace mate, and have fun in heaven xx

Kath xxxx

(link taken out cos it reveals my location.)

And I have the plaster to prove it! See!!!

It was pretty fun actually. As in, nowhere near as hard as I thought it was going to be!

And it didn’t hurt. Not that I really thought it would hurt a lot, but it hardly hurt at all. The worst part was when they took the needle out, I barely felt a thing when they put it in!

I’m happy I did it! And roll on September when I can do it again. (The next date I can is…. MY BIRTHDAY!! How cool is that?)

Hope everyone else is having a great week!

Long time no post! Unfortunately, I am incredibly busy at college right now, I have my AS level exams coming up in the next month or so, and so everything is about REVISION. I can’t believe I’ve nearly finished my first year here already, it feels like only yesterday I started, whilst also feeling like I’ve been here my entire life. I love College! I even have an entire album dedicated to it on my Picasa. (Comment if you would like to see an English college campus and I’ll email people I know the link. Know in a bloggy sense of course.)

As for the title Reggae Reggae Sauce is quite possibly my new greatest love. Any UK readers will probably recognise it from being on Dragon’s Den, and I am so glad they invested. This sauce is absolutely gorgeous, I am yet to marinade anything in it, but as a dipping sauce it is tops! It’s very spicy, but not overpowering, just delicious.

Anyway, that is really all I have time for, I promise I will blog more after my exams, and toodles for now!!

P.S. (Can you have a P.S. in a blogpost? Idk) Anyway my mum is going for an ultrasound scan on her carotid artery on Thursday, to asses it before she has bypass surgery on her heart, so prayers for her would be welcomed please.

Light Will Emerge, by Kaci King.

I bought this book on the recommendation of Cindy, over at Cole Twins, and it is a fantastic book! It came in the post on Friday morning, and I took it to college with me, and spent my entire journey there glued to it. Same for my break, a part of my lunch, and my journey home! Then the same happened yesterday evening, and earlier this afternoon I finally finished it! I don’t often get so absorbed in a book I can’t put it down, in fact I have a tendency to put books down and forget about them, finding them with bookmarks in months later. But this book fascinated me. It is an amazing book, and is a real insight into both craniosynotosis and chiari,malformation, I have come away feeling like I have a real understanding of the conditions, and even more admiration for the mums’ and their children who have these conditions.

The book takes the form of partly diary entries from the time of surgeries and other events, and partly a narration looking back, and documents the difficulties not only with the surgeries, but also the difficulties the author had with doctors who didn’t take her seriously and underplayed her fears. The author has an amazing talent for really addressing her readers, and making you feel like she is talking to you alone, not just as one of many readers. She speaks openly and honestly about the good and bad aspects to the treatment she received, and the surgeries her children underwent, and really explains things to you in a clear and concise way.

If I had a review system going here on my blog, I would give this blog 5/5 stars, and recommend it to everyone! There is a link to buy it from here, so if you fancy a good read, hop on over and buy it!!

We were at the park before, and my cousin was playing his music from his phone incredibly loudly, and basically peeing everyone in the vicinity off.

Aunt says, “*cousins first name* Stop it.”

He turns it up louder. “*cousins full name* STOP THAT NOW.”

He turns it up as loud as it will go, “*cousins full name* If you don’t turn that off this second, when Rihanna reaches the chorus, I am going to do something you won’t like.” He stares at her defiantly.

As the song goes “Put on your green lights..”

My aunt leaps up, starts singing (shouting) along at the top of her voice, doing daft Dad dancing. Hip thrusts, Travolta arms, everything you associate with Dad dancing. Along with her singing. In the middle of a public park, with lots of families, and therefore quite a few boys my cousins age. The music went off instantly.

She turned to us and said,

“And THAT is how it is done.”

And was rewarded with a round of applause from most of the parents in the vicinity.