Julie Helen: A big adventure...and catching up with some of my dearest friends

Ricky was super-excited when we were dropped off at the train station for a big adventure.

We were going to Dublin to visit my friends, Catharine and Stewart, and their lovely daughters. Ricky had never been on a train before, so he was all business, with his backpack and his trusty booster seat for car journeys at the other end.

As we were asking for assistance onto the train, I had a lump in my throat, but it was one of realising how far I had come.

I travelled to Dublin for work weekly for a few years before Ricky came along. That commitment generally meant leaving my house at 4.30am to be present and correct for morning meetings. It was always really hard, probably too hard, and I don’t think anybody understood just how much it took out of me to accomplish that kind of travel so regularly and do all the work on top of it.

On that train, I so often wished for my child, hoped I was doing all the right things to become a parent, working hard to build a house, home and life and trying to make sure that disability didn’t get in the way. Watching him slide into the seat next to the wheelchair spot, where I so often curled with exhaustion, made me smile. He was brimming with happiness and the familiarity of the trip made it seem to him like I was a boss of that journey. The fact that I knew I was getting a hug and a lift from Cath at the destination was a reminder that chapters can end and even better ones start.

Cath and I met in our first week of secondary school and we have been best friends ever since. It gets even more special to be able to say that, when the people who are still in my life now since the age of 13, total about five determined souls.

Cath and Stewart got married 20 years ago, they were young and so in love and I stood with them, thinking they were crazy but understanding their decision too. Now they have three glorious teenage daughters and have built impressive businesses and lives in Dublin. It means our families don’t meet as often as we would like, as life is busy for us all, but we are still behind each other 100% and in touch all the time.

Meeting Megan, Cath and Stewart’s middle daughter, was like meeting my teenage best friend all over again. Her look, her smile, her clothes, her music, her creativity, her quick wit, even they way she sounds as she walks made me do a double take more than once. It was so lovely to see someone I love so much shining through in a whole new person. Lucy is a lovely mix of both parents.

Stewart, being in company with Ricky for the first time. was fascinated by how like my brothers he is, so the déjà vu goes both ways. How lucky we are to witness it together. We didn’t get to see Chloe, their eldest, who was in America before she starts college. I had met all the girls a few times when they were kids but now that they are teenagers, forging their way in the world, I can see what a beautiful job their parents have done. We had such a lovely weekend, catching up and having all the fun and the chats. It made me wish they lived right next door to us, but we can’t have it all!