Just Emma

Hello, lovelies.              Have you ever wondered why you can give 100% of yourself to something or someone, but it's never enough? Or do you push yourself way too hard, but never feel like you're getting anywhere?                                                                                                                                                                We h...

Hello, lovelies.     Have you ever noticed that all the good and fun things in life come at a cost?  And what if that price is too high? Is it worth all the pain that follows?        Today, when I got home from work, I decided to do a bit of gardening. Not normally known for my green fingers, I've discovered through lockdown that I love growing my own food. I have potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins and aubergines all growing happily growing in my garden. But over in one corner, there is a patch of blackberry bushes, that no matter how many times I have tried to cut back and get rid of them, they thwart my plans and grow even bushier. But I knew how to beat them at their own game. I was going to pick the big black juicy berries and turn them into something useful. Crumble, perhaps? And who doesn't love homemade crumble?       Thrusting my hand into the green leaves, I planned to pick the largest berries. That'll teach the bush for inv...

     Hello Lovelies.      I am so excited to see that Charity shops have reopened after 5 long months of lockdown.  I just love a good charity shop. It's so easy to pop in to look at the books only to come out with 3 new outfits and a whole dinner set.      Charity shops are a relatively new thing, and there is still a taboo surrounding going into one. And to some degree, I understand where people are coming from. I mean, who would want to wear a dead person's clothes?  Back in the day, in the early '80s, these shops were few and far between, and jumble sales were all the thing. Many times as a child I would rock up to school or youth group wearing at least one item of clothing that a peer had donated at the school or church, once a year mega jumble sale. And I spend the rest of the day completely humiliated, wishing that my single mum would, for once, buy me something new. But she didn't.       Now there is a pl...

Hello Lovelies.     Have you ever woken up and wondered, who the heck am I?       I know that I am a mother. A daughter. A sister. A friend. A colleague. A neighbour. A consumer. An Actor. An Ex-wife. A theatre lover. An employee. An avid reader. An introvert. An extrovert. But who am I?  Would the real Emma please stand up.       Growing up I had mapped out my entire life. All I needed to do was grow up and live my best successful, rich life. But here I am. All grown up and I find myself asking that very basic question. Who am I?      So I decided to write my story. My blog. My chance to find the real Emma.  No longer will I just be 'Laura's mum'. The kid's taxi ( And I don't ever get a tip off them, either)  The bottomless pit of the bank of mum. Or the person who has to drop everything and head into work. Or, and this is my personal favourite, Mrs Dewhirst. I am Ms Dewhirst, and I paid a lot of money...

  Hello, Lovelies. .    Have  you ever felt like you've never come in the first place? That you must be failing at life? Well, I have.          Although my life I have never come in first, always ending up in the second spot. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how hard I worked, no matter what I did, I always came in second. At school, or work, my marriage, my acting career, to my parents (but that is for another story,) how I look or what I wear. I always seem to be the one that walks away feeling like I was overlooked, walked over or just forgotten. So much so that I often feel like I am just easily forgotten. And I hate feeling like that. Am I just that forgettable? Am I just never going to be good enough? But good enough for who? And what does it actually mean to come in second?      Many people spend their entire lives achieving everything they set out to do. Fantastic jobs, beautiful  families...