I love love...

Once upon a time a man called Valentine fell in love. Someone shot a love arrow through his heart and he loved everyone he saw from that moment onwards...

I love love...

I love the kind of love I have for my family. Imagine that house out of 'UP'. Every happy memory I have of my family is like adding one more balloon onto that old man's little house. That time my Dad walked me down the road to the petrol station that was being rebuilt and we watched the diggers and lorries, and then he bought me some chocolate for my 'Friday treat'...
                                     ...there's a little blue balloon tied onto the house...

That time my Mum painted my nails when I felt ugly to make me feel beautiful...
                ...there's a little yellow balloon tied to the house...

That time my sister wrote me a note just saying she hoped I'd had a nice day and stuck it on my door to see when I came home from school....
                                                    ...there's a little pink balloon tied to the house...

All of those times and a million more meaning that the house is lifted up so high that nothing can pull it down or stop it flying. That's how I feel about the kind of love I have for my family. It makes me soar.

The kind of love I have for The Boy is sort of the opposite. Him and I are trees, planted next to each other in a field. Instead of balloons lifting me up and away, I feel like our love grounds and fastens me tightly to the ground. No storm will uproot us. Every word of encouragement we give each other, every hug or kiss we share, each time he says he loves me, or I say love to him, we grow more roots and reach them deeper. I hope that in 50 years, we will be like two ancient gnarled Oak trees in a farmer's field. Every year the farmer will say "eeh I wish I could get rid of them old trees but their roots are so deep, and they are so solid it would be impossible! Anyway they are beautiful and wonderful so they can stay in my field forever..." That's how I feel about the love I have for The Boy. It grounds me.

I love the kind of love I have for my friends. A good friendship is symbiotic (a word I learnt from my friend's 3 year old son!) which means we work together, like an Olive Baboon and an African Elephant. (Google it if you don't believe me! They're best pals!) You need a shopping buddy? I'm there. I need a shoulder to cry on? You're there!
I sometimes wonder if the reason people do kind things is because they hope that someday down the line, they will be repaid their good deed, like believing in karma. I hope not. I am trying hard to do my 'kind deed every day' and so far it's going OK. I try to show my love for people by trying hard to help them when they need help. Some of my friends have had a really tough time recently and I imagine they feel a bit like the future is a foggy forest, there's no way of knowing which way they are going or the outcome of their trials. It's a horrible feeling, knowing there's nothing I can do to make things right, so all I can do is be helpful. I sometimes worry this isn't enough but I can't make the world right except by loving people. So that's what I'll do. If they need me they know they can ask and I'm always there.

That's the best thing about love. It's always there :)

Love love love Hannan :)

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you felt loved on Thursday.

Imagine...

When I'm trying to go to sleep and waiting for the sandman to come and sprinkle sleepy sand into my eyes, I imagine things. Sometimes it's what I'd do in a zombie situation, but usually it's not. One of my favourite imagines is a world without bad thoughts. "How childish and naiive!" I hear you cry but hold them horses right there a moment. It's really tricky to imagine all the things that would be different if there were no bad thoughts (and as a result, no bad actions) in our semi-sad world. Here are some of my observations of my imagines...

1. Sorry Locksmiths. No work for you. There would be no need for locks because people wouldn't steal and so everything can be left unlocked. You could just walk to your car, open the door, get in and push a button to drive away! No fumbling about for keys in bottomless bags, or trying to lift an arm laden with 7 Tesco bags up, all trembling with pain, to reach the key into the lock of your front door (an actual anecdote from last night when me and Crazy Meg did the shopping). Don't worry Timpsons, you can turn your hand to making tiny medals to give out to people as love gestures.

2. No CRB forms! Which means less paperwork. Need I say more?

3. No need to pay money into prisons or owt, so more moeny to spend on national treats such as "Pancake Party day!" on which the governement makes pancakes for everyone in Britain and David Cameron is in charge of the squeezy chocolate sauce. We could also spend money on lovely things like painting some of the road markings pink (double pink lines could mean that you HAVE to stop on them and do a little dance in your car)

4. People would still think of others and behave like Ladies and Gentlemen. Young men wouldn't walk extra quick to get in front of you as you are going up the steps into Pizza Express, sneak in a closing door and let it smash closed as you reach it! (Another true story which happened recently. Humph) Men would tip their hats and say Good Day as they passed you in the street, rather than pull the peak of their cap further down over their face to avoid having to do eye-smiling at you. And people would leave kind notes on your car even if they didnt know you, just to make your heart warm.

It's got me old brain whizzing this imagine has... I'd like to declare a late entry to the New Year;s Resolution declarations: I would like to try and do 1 act of kindness every single day. And I will try to record them and tell you all about it. I expect it will be hard. Sometimes I feel cross with the world, like a big old raincloud at a family picnic and I have to shake myself and say "Hannan...stop. Be sunshine not hailstones"

We'll see. Today was my first day and I got my friend Sam some delicious tea (lemon and ginger) to drink at work. That was an easy one.

Wish me luck y'all!
Hannan xxx

P.S. Blogger tells me that people from other countries have visited my blog and it made me feel special. If you are from another country to the UK, please say hello to me!! If you're from this kingdom you're allowed to too. :)

Home is where the Hannan is...

It's been a little while since my last blog, my world is continuing to spin crazy fast and time is sweeping by without so much as a tea break! But here I am, back again, when I should really be doing work to tell you about another of my favourites...

When I was a smaller Hannan I was quite dependent on Megatron and Optimus Dad and had to live in their house so they could help me grow and protect me from baddies. Ja Ja lived there too because she's my sister, and we grew up in a lovely home in Lancashire which iss called The Mother Ship. I have many memories of The Mother Ship and so, when it was time to leave for uni and then when I moved down to Surrey, I felt quite sad that I wouldn't be living there any more.

I live quite a long way from The Mother Ship, and every so often I visit. This is my all time favourite. Ever. Going home is the best.

My Mum always makes her home all cosy and special and welcoming and when we arrive I can see the warmth eminating from the house, it almost glows. The fire is always on in the living room (even in summer sometimes, it's bizzarre!) Mum taught me a valuable lesson about lighting throughout my upbringing and as a result I have an obsession with lamps and NEVER have the 'big light' on. When I go round my friends houses I tend to go around turning lamps on and big lights off.

Being a northern Hannan I love a good cup of tea. And up North is definitely the place to get a good cup of tea. No limescale in our water, no sir-ee! And everyone who steps into The Mother Ship has a cup of tea put in front of them whether or not they asked for one. Everyone except my sister's boyfriend, Brother Bear. He doesn't care for tea. Nor coffee. So because of this 'abnormality' my Mum had a mini meltdown and bought a hot drink called 'Spiced Berry Cordial'. I'm not sure Brother Bear likes Spiced Berry Cordial but he gets it every time he visits, because one must always have a hot drink in front of one.

I like doing projects with me ol' Mum, like the time I knitted The Boy a jumper which I thought would be a great money-saving idea and in fact ended up costing me eighty quid and took me 6 months to complete...and also require Mum to be there to pick up dropped stitches, add stitches on, take them away etc.

Another great factor of The Mother Ship is the wonderful meals I get to gobble. My favourite is my Mum's veggie lasagne but The Boy ADORES her Cottage pie. When Ja Ja and I were younger we would be handed a plate of cottage pie and would gobble it down before you could say hot potato. Then Mum would come in, all chill, and say "Here's the cabbage..." and we would look in dismay at the part of the meal we'd forgotten. We always had to eat that cabbage on its own as we had finished the cottage pie in our haste. Ahhhh the foolishness of youth.

The Boy and I just got home from a wonderful Christmas at The Mother Ship and had the best time ever. It was the first Christmas we were all together, Mum, Dad, my sister and her boyfriend, me and The Boy. We pulled crackers, wore those happy hats, ate turkey and played games and had a merry old Christmas. The Boy got a fondue kit from Father Christmas which he has used for every meal since Boxing Day. I got a delicious turquoise gilet with a furry hood and I love it.

One day you may be lucky enough to visit Preston and if you do, look up The Mother Ship and you can be sure there will be a roaring fire awaiting you, a delicious shepherds pie and a hot cup of tea (or Spiced Berry Cordial if you're really lucky)

Love Hannan

xxxxxxxxxxx
P.S. Happy New Year!