My first morning…I opened my eyes and it hit me. I was scared, very scared. I thought, right, if I stay under my duvet maybe go back to sleep it will all go away, and I will wake up back at my Mums house where I want to be.
But I knew deep down that can’t happen anymore as my Mum isn’t well and I can’t live with her. She has carers now they are great, but they do not know my Mum like I do. She is my Mum and she brought me up on her own for all these years. I am 50 now and I have moved out for the first time in my life. As I said, I am very scared. I had a great time with my Mum she did so much for me every day of my life, in fact, she did everything. We have always been together, never apart. My Mum helped me find this flat, she fought really hard to get into a home that we both felt would be a safe homely place for me to live. I know she had lots of meetings to get me here, it felt like it took her a long time to get me to that first morning in my own flat so, now I’m here, I don’t want to let her down.
Looking back on my first day now 3 years later, I do laugh to myself. I can't believe how far I have come. The enablers that support me have taught me how to cook meals for myself. I live on my own so I have learned to batch cook and prepare meals for the week that I can warm up and eat when I want. It wasn’t always easy either learning how to make my money last all week and paying my bills on time and making sure I have enough left to buy the DVDs. Learning to clean and tidy my flat and do my own laundry was easier than I thought, putting on some of my favourite tunes while I did it with my enablers made it much more fun and actually now, I enjoy doing it each day.
My biggest achievement, one which I never thought would come true is that I now care for my Mum, I am proud to say that I am her main carer. As I said, her carers are great but she’s My Mum so that I can do better. I have used all these new skills I have learned at ubu to help care for her now in her old age. I still miss the old days of us being together, but I am proud that I can now pay her back for everything she has given to me over the years.
I woke up today in bed, I open my eyes, and it hits me. I have to get up to go and help my Mum today and I can't wait.
