OK, what if I was to throw a dinner party and as a result I get to invite any five people I like! This can be anybody and they are guaranteed to turn up. Now, how do I know this for sure? Because this “Dinner Party” is just a fragment of my imagination that provides the inspiration for this post, well, that and them lot over at the wego health blog who continue to provide the daily prompts for the #HAWMC with this one actually being some 4 days late!
So, as this isn’t really actually happening in the real world, you should note that I can therefore invite who the hell I like. Yep, the living and that of the dead are not even exempt from the guest list (however freaky that may be)! The Point… There is no hard rule, I may fancy inviting the Prime Minster… Cough… Yer Right… don’t think so! Maybe my dear granny, best mate or even my childhood crush (though I’m not sure how well he’ll be holding up)! I can even invite the drunk guy who physically beats up the bus stop, “YES BUS STOP” right outside my house on most evenings! Bottom line… You’re all invited to see just how this mum’s imagination works.
Firstly I must tell you what I’d throw together spend hours carefully preparing and cooking (and no this wasn’t in the rules but I’m telling you anyway! Now, please note, this is not my speciality, in-fact I can’t say I’ve ever made such a feast ever before… I’m no Nigella unless you count nugget surprise as posh nosh? Yer, I thought not!
My menu is in fact inspired by none other than Pinterest currently one of my favourite online places to be. The recipes I chose had sold themselves to me through there mouth watering images that I’ve either re-pinned or come across during a blog reading session.
Starter: Tomato Basil Fresh Mozzarella Salad
Pin originally from bellasblog.blogspot.com
Main: Lemon Chicken
Originally from annies-eats.com
Looks yummy doesn’t it?
Dessert: Key Lime Cheesecake Bars
Originally from bhg.com
And let’s not forget what we’re drinking! I chose the very pretty and hopefully tasty drink “The Taste of Summer”
Originally from theregoesthecupcake.com This would defiantly be on the menu.
So, I guess the only thing to sort now is the guest list…
OK… The first would be my Late Grandmother who I referred to as Nanny Peg. My Nan lived with us or rather we lived with her! Not that my mother lived elsewhere, we all lived together. However my mother working full-time and my father not living at home made such an arrangement ideal. Plus I loved it!
My Grandmother was a very down to earth woman, however brought up in London’s Eastend meant she knew how to look after herself and her family. A single mother of two, who worked nearly all off her life (even when she watched us after school she still worked part-time during the mornings). I admired my grandmother for the person she was, very strong-willed, a woman who wasn’t afaird to have an opinion regardless if the opinion differed from that considered to be the “norm” Open and honest was just one of many characteristics making my grandmother the wonderful person she was! Of course we were close, like you wouldn’t beleive. It was hard when she got sick and by this stage she had moved in with her son, my uncle, as she needed lots of rest! By now I was 17 years old and found I missed her dearly. Nonetheless I found myself spending fast amounts of time with her and although this was something I loved to do, sadly it wasn’t just for social reasons. My grandmothers Kidneys were failing and she was very sick. Dialysis 4x per week which required us to be travelling back and forth into the city to London’s guys hospital. Sometimes I’d come home alone as she’d be kept in for something or another. Other times we’d enjoy doing a detour on the way home, off we would go to chill in a cafe or coffee shop and chat for an hour or more. The above continued for many months in-till my grandmother started home dialysis which required her to set this up herself not 4x a week but 4x a day! It was quite simple, the machine was doing the job her kidneys were failing to and if she didn’t do it she’d die and no one was ready for that, especially me.
I can’t remember which day of the week it was but a week day it must have been as my as my uncle was working and my grandmother had told him that she was going to call me to see if I wanted to visit and have some lunch that afternoon! I never got that call… the only call I got was the one that suddenly changed my world forever, the one that caused me to feel such a indescribable pain, one I’d never experienced before and never wanted to again! With the phone to my ear, I stood looking at those before me going about their day as if in slow motion! Inside my heart was bleeding, outside my body was physically & uncontrollably shaking, my feet rooted to the spot I was stood at! I tried screaming but the words failed to come out… I never got to say good bye, I just wanted to tell her how much I appreciated her, how dearly I loved her.
Quite strangely it wasn’t my grandmothers kidney disease that ended her life but a heart attack instead!
My Nanny Peg would be the first on the guest list! I’d tell her the words I still long to and introduce her to my three beautiful children. I discovered I was pregnant with Little man on the day of her funeral. I still believe he was her gift… my grandmother never did anything by half’s and was the first person to teach me that important lesson that “Normal doesn’t exist we’re all individuals!” My grandmother also once told me that… “Whatever Normal is meant to define, it’s boring anyway! I do hope she’d be proud of her great grandson as well as his 2 siblings! I also hope that she’d be proud of the person I’ve become in the 13 years she so sadly went away.
My next guest would have to be my very good friend Donna. She’s a massive support to me and we do so much together. Since having the children, there’s not been many friends able to stick around to maintain a friendship. I think Donna likes the fact we’re your “non typical” type of family and to be honest I appreciate that she enjoys the company of her sometimes crazy mate who often struggles to know if she’s coming or going.
My friend Donna along with my grandmother would actually turn out to be the perfect guests as they are both strong, outspoken characters which really highlights why our friendship is a strong one. Donna does have some of them same amazing characteristics about her, and although she is much to younger than that of my grandmother, these two ladies would probably get on well.
Now, you may of expected a guest list of sexy men and A listers, you may actually consider my list a tad boring? Truth is I’m a family girl hence why guest 3 would have to be my amazingly wonderful mother. My mother continues to support all that I do and was amazingly supportive both before and after Little mans diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome. My mother is a really relaxed person, she is able create and hold an awesome conversation and is an intelligent women regardless of whether she thinks so or not. I love my family and along with close friends I don’t think I could have dragged my arse through these past few years and remained intact (mentally that is)! A dinner party wouldn’t be incomplete without that of my mother and to see her sat with my Grandmother, the mother she sadly lost, would be an image I’d cherish till the day I died.
OK, Guest 4 … Now this maybe somewhat not what you expected, especially following the announcement of my first three guest, but for me the choice of my next guest is a logical one! Hans Asperger, the man who gives Asperger’s Syndrome it’s name!
Now, I wouldn’t change Little man, though some difficulties he experiences I’d of course fix in a heart-beat. I love my child the way he is and am no way looking for the so-called “Cure”
I’ve always been extremely interested in psychology, the working of the mind, why we as humans do the things we do! I’ve had to learn all I can about the condition my child has been diagnosed with which has therefore brought about much interest in the subject as a whole. I’d love to ask the man who gave my child the “label” he holds today some questions. What with it being his discovery, I’d love to learn more about his past studies, hear his thoughts and pick his brains. It would be wonderful if he’d be willingly to shed a little light on the grey areas helping me understand autism just a little more.
Hans Asperger, the medical professor who passed away in 1980 2 years before I’d actually made my appearance in this world, died having little if no idea what type of impact his studies into medical psychological disorders and that of the condition he referred to as “Autistic Psychopathy” (AP) would have on those in the world today. His studies and there findings recorded within over 300 publications were largely ignored during his living years, that was in-till the last year of his life “1980” when suddenly others become interested in his findings and that of the “Autism Spectrum” It was only then that the condition known to us as Aspergers Syndrome, got given its official title after that of its discoverer. Sadly regardless of the rise in those bringing awareness for the condition, it is still sometimes disregarded by many!
Hans has been described to have displayed the very characteristics he described as AS traits. A talented & intelligent man who was described to exhibit the black & white thinking style of someone with AS as well as that of his language and learning skills. Han Aspergers has been noted to have done some great things such as opening a school for those described as having AP and AS. Sadly due to the bombing of the school during the war it was therefore destroyed along with many of the earlier papers he wrote on the autism spectrum during that of the 1930’s and the early 1940’s.
Its documented that Hans Asperger was a kind and caring person who’s passion was to get the children he believed to be on the autism spectrum an efficient & decent education therefore enabling them to approach their adult lives as happy young people with good prospects and an array of opportunities ahead of them.
Sounds like a man who shares many of my interests and defiantly someone worthy a seat at the table.
Oh… I almost forgot, I’m a dinner guest short!
OK, the last dinner guest would have to be… MMM…. let me think… MMM… Oh yes, “Robbie Williams” Why? Because he can provide the entertainment’s and his pretty great to look at too!
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: #HAWMC, AS, Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, cooking, Day 19, Dinner Party, Eastend, Entertainment, grandmother, Guest, Hans Asperger, Lemon Chicken, London, Pinterest, posh nosh, professor, psychology, Psychopathy, Robbie Williams, SEN, single parent, studies, Wego health
A boy with Asperger's 
Recent Comments