The Back Story

Behind every story there is always a back story and this is mine.

I married in the early eighties. It was a time of innocence and naivety, which seems inconceivable today. Fourteen years later, I was still just as naïve about life and also incredibly unhappy, so I plucked up the courage to divorce and launch myself into a very unknown future. It was like throwing a pack of cards up in the air and not knowing how they would land, but willing them to fall in a much more favourable way.

I met a man who completely swept me off my feet. He had a great body, super job and the most amazing affect on me. I was totally besotted. He was much more guarded about his emotions. His job was all consuming and he didn't want to be committed to a newly divorced woman with two young children.

I couldn't forget him though. I stayed in touch, writing poems and stories to him to hold his interest in me. Once or twice a year, we would meet up and fireworks would ensue! That relationship lasted for fifteen years. "Silly girl," you might say. "That man was using you!"

Maybe he did. Maybe he loved the thrill of meeting a woman who would be overjoyed to see him. But he gave me the space I needed to find myself.

I lived like a wild child in those early years of divorce; lapping up compliments about my figure and growing in my own personal self confidence. Girls, Gok Wan was so on the money when he made the Channel 4 series "How to Look Good Naked." He oozed compliment after compliment, and boy did it have the desired affect. His ladies positively glowed because he made them feel so good about themselves.

In 2012, I suffered symptoms of double vision and extreme fatigue, and despite wearing glasses with prisms to combat the double vision, I was too exhausted to work; my limbs became very heavy and there were days when I could hardly walk.

They were scary times for me, so I turned to my writing for distraction. I had a story I had started years ago but abandoned after a couple of chapters. This time the ideas flowed...

 My condition was eventually diagnosed as myasthenia gravis and as soon as I started taking the prescribed medication, my health rapidly improved, I returned to work and life was back to normal.
Only, not quite normal as I was now obsessed with finishing the story I had started... "For Want of a Shoe"

And for those of you who like great fairytale endings, I am thrilled to let you know I have been in a very stable relationship with a wonderful, wonderful man and I am wearing the most sparkly diamond engagement ring!