Endless Summer

Me again… checking in after an incredible s few summer months!

It started with a week in Cambridge University, where I completed a Biological Sciences summer school. This was such a privilege to be a part of, and probably the only time I’ll see the inside of Cambridge University as a student!

After a few weeks rest I flew out to Spain with a best friend from high school and her family, where we spent an amazing week snorkelling, kayaking, reading, sunbathing and eating more olives than you can shake a stick at. This was a lovely  week which I never wanted to leave (you can imagine our dismay in stepping out of the plane to be welcomed by the grey clouds and drizzle of home!) and am so lucky to have been invited on!

The next day I flew to Ireland for a big family birthday, we spent a lovely few days catching up and preparing for the party. At the party I ended up singing with my cousin which was a lot of fun, as well as dancing and having a great time. The hospitality and generosity of our Irish counterparts was amazing, and made our trip a warm and hilarious one!

It doesn’t end there I’m afraid! I flew back from Cobh to go straight on to my annual sailing camp, where the theme was the board game “Ticket To Ride” (cue endless train metaphors!) and I spent a great week with some of my favourite people. My birthday has been at camp for a few years now, but this year was my 18th, so it was inevitably more special. I hadn’t seen my family since Ireland, so unbeknown to me they borrowed a small boat and painted a banner saying “HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY BECCA”. During breakfast I was called onto the deck and suddenly the family were driving by with the banner and a klaxon! It was such a lovely moment and there were definitely tears in my eyes!

Now there is a brief interlude, in which I recovered from the craziness of travelling, threw my 18th birthday party and got my AS results (three As… I’m still shocked and not sure whether they mixed my results up with someone else’s…?!).

Next I took a mini-break in  Dublin with two of my best girl-friends, which was an absolute ball! We learnt how to pour the perfect pint at the Guinness factory, took a walking tour in the pouring rain, saw many of the sights and accidentally ended up in a lovely ukulele jamming session in a pub!

My final dose of excitement for the summer was returning to the sailing camp as a leader for the youngest age group. The theme was Despicable Me so we had 5 days of minion related fun DESPITE the rain, which we never let stop us. Once you’ve heard someone describe it  as “liquid sunshine” it’s harder to see rain in a negative light! Lots of my friends who were campers were leading this year as well, which helped to create a great team along with the centre staff. This was another week which had me praying that summer would never end, that the fun would continue forever!

I’m trying to remember how frustrated I felt in the year when I couldn’t go to college in order to motivate myself to finish the summer transition work and get into the mindset for returning to college. That mindset is coming back, but very gradually!

In other interesting news: I only have 3 doses of IV chemotherapy, 1 lumbar puncture and 1 bone marrow test left to go before the end of my treatment! The official end date is December 17th, just in time for Christmas!