I am not tempting fate – I am merely making other plans…. ~ Northernmum

It’s cold, it’s dark, quite frankly it is a bit miserable outside my front door.

I need a holiday.

I spent this evening dreaming of life before terms like hip dysplasia, hypos and spica casts were part of our lives, a time when we didn’t realise what lie ahead.  I opened the photo album and saw a different woman staring back at me, one with far less wrinkles and much better kept nails.

Just before we were diagnosed with BB’s hip issues we went on a family trip to Butlins holiday parks, where we played, stayed up late, went on far too many water flumes for my liking and even hit a very cold beach.

It was half term in October 2011, the last half term that hasn’t involved a stay of at least three nights at the courtesy of the NHS.  If I had the choice I would much prefer to spend a week at one of Butlins holiday parks over a hospital ward.

There are some benefits to the hospital ward, free Nintendo for the kids, hot water on tap for a nice cup of tea and it can rain all day and you won’t feel a drop as leaving your child alone is often frowned upon.

But at Butlins we got to breathe in the air, play on the slides, meet X factor stars (oh yes!) and drink wine, lots of lovely wine.  In case you don’t know, wine is also frowned upon in a hospital ward, you have to hide it in a cardboard tea-cup and eat lots of polos.  Polo’s and wine are not good bed companions.

It is three weeks until the next half term and I must confess I am starting to panic a little, everyone in my home looks just a little too healthy, it feels like the calm before the storm.  They say things come in threes so perhaps my nerves are unfounded and I should get a grip but the temptation to book a holiday is overwhelming, because if we are on holiday we can’t possibly double book and stay at the NHS?

So I am not tempting fate, but I think I am going to make other plans….