Sally's World

Why wild dolphins in the Bahamas? I know most of you have heard about swimming with dolphins in captivity in special centres, and I hear its incredible. We wanted a different experience though. Before we booked our trip and while we fund raised, I did a lot of reading, (no change there then), I read about the dolphins themselves, and I read about peoples experiences, and most importantly I read about how those people were afterwards.

Now one thing was obvious, no-one came away from their experiences with the dolphins without having had a life altering experience. But one thing became obvious the more I looked into it, and that was that the beneficial effects of swimming with wild dolphins seemed to outlast those of people who swam with captive dolphins.

There's lots of speculation as to why, some reports suggested that as wild dolphins are happier, they can give more. Others simply that the whole experience is freer, and therefore more therapeutic. But just as no one knows quite why dolphins are so beneficial, no one really knows the answers to that question either.

So we went off to look around on the Internet with Aaron on my lap, and he clicked off onto a group called Wild quest. We delved a little deeper and it seemed just what we were looking for.

Not only was this a group that took you out to swim with wild dolphins, it was actually a healing family week. Perfect. So off we went. I'm a bit of a water baby, so I couldn't wait to get there. Dave was a little apprehensive as he'd never swam in the sea before. The kids have no fear of anything, so they just wanted to dive right in and have an adventure.

When we got there, the size of the island was a surprise, it was tiny, and quite underdeveloped, and probably the most natural beautiful place I have ever seen. And the wild quest crew were fantastic with all the kids. They looked straight past Aaron and Deion's physical limitations and saw them for who they are as people. Total acceptance, as many of you know, is very rare indeed.

Although we initially thought we were going for Aaron, we all benefited. Deion, as you all now know has cerebral palsy, and we were not quite prepared for the effect the week would have on him either. All of our faces the first time we caught a glimpse of those magical dolphins gliding through the water must have been a picture. And the noises they make, I can't quite put it into words, but it's a sound that vibrates right through you and makes you feel totally peaceful. Like I said, words are inadequate here.

It wasn't all smooth sailing (pardon the pun). As I said, Dave isn't the best swimmer, I often tease him that he swims like a brick. He has a whole big excuse about his muscle being more dense than ours, closer to the surface, subcutaneous muscle he says, makes you heavier in the water. Whatever Dave!!! The day we saw a tiny baby tiger shark in the water though, his subcutaneous muscle didn't kick in and he practically ran on water to get back to the boat. He shot past me quicker than I've ever seen anyone swim! Of course it would have been better if he hadn't left an eight year old Jordan in the water to fend for himself.

But before you ring social services, don't worry, there were plenty of other people in the water, and Jordan got back to the boat safely. We'll never let Dave live it down though.

Anyway, when we got back; friends, family, teachers and doctors couldn't quite believe the change in Aaron. He was more alert, his eyes were wide open and he had more energy than we knew what to do with. So we broke our necks and got back there every year, every time we touch down in Bimini it feels like coming home, wildquest crew have become family and it became our way of keeping Aaron strong. A sort of secret weapon, if he became week or ill, we booked a flight.

Thats why we scattered Aaron's ashes there, it was like taking him home, now we think of him flying through the waves with his dolphin friends. I know that's where I'd want to be.

Take care, see you soon. xxx

I apologise for not keeping up with my comments the last couple of days. I took the kids to visit some friends of ours down in the New Forest for a break. We had a fantastic time, the kids loved it, it is pure countryside, and once we were about 2 hours outside of London the kids kept asking me what the smell was…I resisted the
urge to say “that’s cow shit!” and told them it was just fresh country air. We are used to slightly thicker and more ‘mineral’ based air in London!!!

The kids were amazed when we got closer and came across horses, ponies and cows wandering around right next to and even in the road, no fences, no owners, just animals wandering free. We were total tourists, the first cow/horse/sheep/Shetland pony/donkey we saw, I pulled over and the kids jumped out the van to take photos…all the locals were looking at us like we were crazy…of course every day life for them!

And one of our funniest moments was Deion shouting “oh my god, someone’s graffiti’d the sheep!” bless…so used to being in London and anything that doesn’t move quick enough getting tagged or spray painted…I had to explain that’s what the farmers did to know who’s sheep were who’s…but how cute is that???

Deion’s highlight was seeing a sign on a gate saying ‘FREE POO’ I couldn’t stop at take a photo as we were on a country road barely wide enough for a bicycle! But we saw many more, and signs offering free horse manure…again, I had to explain why people used manure! Very funny, I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in ages!

We had the most relaxing couple of days, it was great to see the kids all together, and lovely to have a break. The weather was beautiful. We went down to the harbour and saw all the boats, and wandered around the tiny town with the cobbled streets and tiny shops. It was like going back a couple of decades, no one was rushing, complete strangers stopped to say hello and I’m wondering if I can talk Dave into moving out of London!!!!

Sorry, I know I said I’d be back the other day, but I’m having trouble getting in the right time zone. I’ve been getting a bit more sleep lately too as I went and got all chilled out, so now there really are less hours in the day. Now, I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m complaining, and as Dave and my brothers said when I complained after feeling groggy from my first night of five hours sleep, “that’s how you’re supposed to feel when you wake up you dozy cow…you’re not supposed to go from sleep to wonder woman in a tenth of a second.” Well that was news to me.

I’ve loaded a few photos for you, this is my family, and we had a brilliant Christmas. But I mean it is us...so not all ran smoothly, my brother insisted on frying the turkey, not something I heard of, but big in America, and after all the fuss I made, it almost burnt me to admit that it was delicious, non-greasy and best of all only took and hour and a quarter to fry and twenty three pound bird. I wanted to raid the kitchen and see what else we could fry, veggies, chocolate, the toaster…but they wouldn’t let me. Such spoil sports.

By the time the kids had finished opening presents it looked like we lived in a toy shop, and I have to say, kids toys are getting better and better. My nephews got the guitar hero for the wii and Dave was the one on his back on the floor, spinning around in circles like a demented rock star….his excuse was that ‘you have to show the kids how its done’ I guess my brother was just grateful he didn’t smash it into the TV or set it alight.


We ate too much, drank too much, fell off of skateboards and almost ran Dave over in the golf cart, but generally it was great. We were sorry to leave, even if my brothers breathed a huge sigh of relief at our departure.

But joking aside, it is hard having family so far away. It’s not so bad because we have e-mail, phone, facebook and of course blogging, but it’s not the same as being able to give the kids cuddles when we like. Its lovely to go and stay and have quality time together, and the kids just slip right back into it as if they’ve never been apart. Everyone just gets so big while we’re gone.


So we are looking forward to getting back out there getting some sunshine and seeing our old friend Mickey Mouse…

Take care

Sal, Dave, Aaron, Jordan, Robyn, Deion, Garry, Claire, Zoe, harry, Connor, Lilly, Danny, Kelly, Rhys, Lewis and Tyler xxxxxxxxxxx

Well, we’re home after a lovely holiday in Orlando and some lovely family times together over Christmas and the lead up to it. We did a lot of swimming, said ‘Hi’ to Mickey Mouse (he never seems to age!) and ate our body weight in ice cream regularly!

It was a little harsh landing to the solitary stingy one degree weather though. To think ten hours previously we were all sitting by the pool sipping cool drinks in the ninety degree heat!!! (non-alcoholic…of course!!!)

I’m almost over the jet lag, and almost back on British time (if I ever was on such a thing in the first place!). And now the kids have finally let me on one of the computers after catching up with their friends/downloading ring tones/synchronising i-pods.

I’m not going to go into to much detail now, I have lots of news, lots of photos and one of the best things is that I got some great insight into some of the reasons about how I hold onto the grief about Aaron and all that surrounds that.

So I’m off to get some sleep now, tomorrow I’ll start posting some photos and blogging. I would have done more while we were away, but everywhere we went there were problems with the computers, so after the first couple of attempts, I gave up and decided it was a sign, so now you’ll be sick of me again in no time!

Take care

Sal xxx

Well, we jet off early in the morning, so keeping with the holiday theme, the video blog this week is about where we have been that we love, and where we would go if we had the chance. Look out for Trojans little jibe about me being past clubbing!! Hmmm!! And he cheated…he picked two places…

I’ll be keeping a ‘travel blog,’ while we’re away, and I’ll try to get on once or twice a week to talk about what we’ve been up to. Deion’s been getting chest infections and colds quite a lot lately, so we are hoping a bit of sunshine will put an end to that, then I may even be able to talk Dave into moving somewhere hot permanently…wouldn’t that be good.

I’ll be back as soon as I’m over the jet lag!

Take care

Sally and Trojan xxx

I know from your comments that many of you are wondering how I have any time for myself or my marriage. Well, we just make time, not lots of it, its not always possible, but some.

Recently it was my husband, Dave's 40th birthday, and as much as he wanted to pretend it wasn't happening, (he still thinks he's 21! acts like it too mostly!!!)I wanted to mark the occasion in a special way, so I surprised him with a weekend in Paris.

It was a big step for both of us; for me because it was going to be the first time we were going away from the kids in 17 years, and for Dave because we weren't taking a lap top/playsation/widescreen TV/sky sports away with us.

Although I think he was glad to get away from the kids relentless teasing about zimmer frames, denture cream, hip replacements and the amount of grey hairs he was suddenly sprouting. They are ruthless...especially Deion! Deion offered to lend him his wheelchair for the trip, and then took it back as Daddy's middle age spread would mean he'd probably get stuck in it and need to have it surgically removed. Nice!

It was the first time either of us had ever been to Paris, and it was wonderful. We spent some quality time together concentrating on us. It was nice to not have to think about someone else for a change, and great to have someone cook for me instead of the other way round. Of course, after about 12 hours I was missing the kids, and when I rang them to say goodnight, you'd think we'd been away for a month.

But it was a way of recharging our batteries and concentrating on each other for a change. I know its not possible for everyone to do, and I know whole weekends will be few and far between. But it made me realise that we need some time on a regular basis.

After all, I'm not just a Mum, I'm a woman and a wife too. Its easy to forget that when I'm up to my eyeballs in a six loads of washing, school runs, hospital appointments and fixing the brakes on Deions wheelchair!!!

Speak to you soon

Sal x