Dear visitor

First of all : thanks for stopping by and for taking a few minutes of your precious time to read these random things about me. Funny things, silly things, life-changing things,… things that made me who I am today…

At 5 I managed to stick some gum in my hair. I tried to disguise it from my mother by chopping off the lock, but of course she found out… was it the spikey hair I suddenly had that gave me away?! This is one of my first childhood memories and you can read the entire story here…

At 6 we went on a holiday to Spain. When we went home, I cried as I didn’t want our holiday to end. I still have troubles when a holiday comes to an end, no crying anymore though!

At 8 ‘Music’ from John Miles was my favorite song… read the post I wrote about it here…

Between the ages of 11 and 16 ‘My darling villain’ by Lynne Reid Banks was my favorite novel. I borrowed it from the library I don’t know how many times. I never owned it myself until I was in my early thirties, when I (having a nostalgic mood) ordered a second hand copy on Amazon. Now I am the proud owner of a teenage romance novel.

At 15 I got to know Katelijne. She was a girl in my class, but only briefly as after a few months, she immigrated to Australia. It was the beginning of a long distance friendship which lasts up until this day. The first years, we wrote heaps of letters (which I still have by the way!) and when we were a bit older we sometimes telephoned. Now thanks to social media, we contact eachother regularly. You can read about our special friendship in this post.

When I got home from school on my 16^th birthday, I came home to the tunes of ‘Sixteen candles’ by The Crests, as my dad had put on the record the moment I came in. I still remember this vividly… thank you daddy, still love you for it !

At 17 I shouted ‘I love you Bryan’ at the top of my lungs during the live act from Bryan Adams at Rock Werchter, a music festival in Belgium. I guess he never heard me… (read my story about that wonderful day here!)

Also at 17 I started watching the Australian soap Neighbours… It still is my guilty pleasure!

At 18 I danced with my mum to the tunes of ‘Lambada’ by Kaoma. To this day I am still amazed we didn’t fall as we did the tipsy version (ok… we were drunk AF!). I’ll never forget the fun we had. Love you mum!

I must have been about 20 when I first bought a Maeve Binchy novel. Now, nearly 30 years later, I own 23 books of her… You could say I am addicted to her writing style!

At 22 I married the love of my life, Peter. Months before the big day  I was trying on my wedding gown. In the dressing room, the song my fiancé and I had chosen for our first dance, was aired the moment I put on that gown! “Bridge over troubled water” from Simon and Garfunkel (it had to be the ‘live at Central Park’ version of course!) was our song. There has been a lot of troubled water in our marriage, mainly due to the illness of my husband (kidney failure). But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger… and our love for each other really is strong. Peter, I love you to the moon and back…

Just after being married, it was the birth of my 2 all-time favorite television shows : Friends and the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. I have visited Lyme Park (read about it in this travelpost!), where the famous “Mr Darcy comes out of the water”-scene was filmed… No Mr Darcy to be seen when we were there though, but the place certainly impressed me!

My daughter Charlotte was born when I was 24. A few years later, when I was 28, my son Stef was born. And on my 31^st birthday I got a special gift… my youngest daughter, Elizabeth. I love my kids to bits… I’m so proud of them♥

At 33 I went on a city trip to Milan with my two sisters… we’ve got a fantastic bond and we do regular outings just the three of us. No city is safe when we’re out and about ! Love you Maggy, love you Cindy… let’s have much more fun together!

Also at 37 my married life got a new boost as my husband finally got a kidney transplant after 4 years of dialysis and years of no normal family life… Now every year we remember the guy who died to save my husband. It was a young man of only 28 years old who will be missed by his relatives. May he rest in peace…  We thank his family from the bottom of our hearts for giving permission to donate his organs ! They cannot imagine how this has changed our lives. Their son lives on in my husband… With this I want to raise awareness for organ donation… Please consider donating organs. You cannot imagine how many people have a chance to a better life because of organ donation ! You can read our life-changing story here…

At 43 I took my youngest daughter and my two nieces to a One Direction concert. They danced all night to the best songs ever (in their opinion at least!) and I am glad I was part of that !

At 46, I became an auntie for the 9th time. All my nieces and nephews have a special place in my heart and I love the many family moments we share… read my thoughts about a family-quote here…

A week before my 48th birthday I was bridesmaid to my best friend Katrien. We go way back and we have a very strong bond. Thanks Katrien for always being there when I need you…

Life goes on… who knows what other random bits and pieces are still waiting to be added to this list… I am as curious as you are…

Love, Kathleen