After my whinge yesterday about being a caged animal I finally managed to get out of the house today, it was only for a couple of hours but that was fine by me. Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force have recently appointed a new PRO (Public Relations Officer). He had attended the Introduction to PR Course this weekend which is run by our excellent National PR Team. As an ex PRO I had offered to meet him and go over the more County specific aspects of the role. People don’t realise just what a demanding role it can be and I think he is quite relieved that there is someone who is able to help him. By his own admission he new it was not an easy role but it was just beginning to dawn on him just how hard the job is. Of course unfortunately for him this year is also the Diamond Jubilee year and there are potentially two major parades that we will be involved in. I am sure he will be fine and in my role as the Internet Media Officer we will need to work quite closely anyway. Just to be out of the house was a major relief for me and I think it has done Cody a bit of good too. He is quite literally like my shadow, it’s as if he is Velcroed to me and follows me everywhere, I am sure he would be up my backside if he could fit! Although I can still have a role within the ACF and doing the Internet Media is possible remotely I just feel so detached from it all. I miss seeing and talking to the people there, the banta and just feeling a part of the organisation. There were times when things were getting on top of me and I was seriously thinking of leaving but I think as long as there is a role that I am able to perform then I will probably stay with it. It is days like today when you go back and see people you haven’t seen for ages and they just treat me as me and not as an amputee or feel they have to be careful what they say that make it so great. I am sure that many of them who visited me in Hospital or have seen me for the first time at our Headquarters have thought, god what am I going to say when I see her, but I have made a joke of things and tried to put people at ease and it seems to have worked quite well. For all the recent bad and frustrated days you go there for a couple of hours and come away feeling so much better, it is amazing what a difference that contact with other people can have on you. With this journey being such a roller coaster I realise that it is important to maintain a sense of humour and see other people as often as you can because it really does make a massive difference to how you feel.
