Anniversary

I can’t believe it’s 12 months since our wedding day. Today is our first anniversary and blimey has the time flown. My husband and I had a wonderful day, spent with our loved ones and friends. Memories of the day will forever be in our minds and our hearts. And I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who shared our special day with us, everyone who sent messages etc and to those who have sent messages today.

When I think back over certain times in my life, I can honestly say hand on heart, that I never thought the day would come that I would get married. Of course it’s something I always hoped for, but meeting that special someone who loved me for the person that I am I thought would never happen. Going back to life as an Ichthyosis sufferer, having the condition can affect many aspects of your life generally. It can affect things that a lot of people take for granted, also things that many people generally have reservations about or are self conscious about. Having Ichthyosis can have a great effect on your confidence and social life for example. Constantly aware of people staring (of which I’ve had my fair share of and still do), being judged because of the way you look on the outside etc. There are some really cruel and downright nasty people out there. But I put it all down to fear of the unknown, in some cases curiosity yes, but overall, it’s down to plain ignorance. I personally would much rather someone came over to me and asked me about my skin instead of standing there gawping - if anything I feel sorry for the person staring, they make themselves uncomfortable because they don’t know how to handle it. It makes me really angry sometimes too, because I sometimes think, hang on a minute I’m the one who has to live with it shouldn’t I be the one feeling awkward? But the truth is, I don’t. I’ve accepted my condition, and that it is a part of me and the way I am. But it’s not ’me’, by that I mean I’m not going to let the condition take over my life. I have Ichthyosis ’it’ doesn’t have me - if that makes sense? Other little things I used to get embarrassed about when it came to letting anyone into my life so to speak, were things such as ‘How are they going to react when they notice how my skin sheds so much?’, 'how are they going to react when my skin breaks' - will all this put them off? You ask yourself so many questions, but at the same time I learnt to deal with it in my own way and told myself, if they can’t accept me for the way I am then maybe they’re not worth knowing quite frankly.

Anyway, back on topic lol Right now I feel very lucky, and very blessed. As cliched as it sounds, I knew as soon as I met my husband we would be together. We’re a great team, and he’s accepted me for who I am ‘warts an’ all’ so to speak. I won’t go on too much about the details, as a lot of it is personal, but what I will say is that I am so grateful, for everything he is and everything he does for me. We also have a beautiful son, and again we are so lucky as there was a 50% chance that he too would inherit my Ichthyosis. He is clear of Ichthyosis and both he and my husband are my world.

Sorry for getting a bit deep and soppy but I just felt it was appropriate to talk about this as it’s our anniversary.

Thanks for ‘listening’ and most of all thank you to my hubby for everything!!!