When old memories & experiences drive us.

Like many others I have been in the position of not having enough money to heat my house.  Back in those days I regularly ran out of tokens for the electricity meter and I would pretend to my then young daughters that we were cooking on the fire as a game of, "lets be like the Victorians."
Those days are gone now, but I still remember how useless I felt as a parent, I was ashamed that I couldn't provide fully for them, and I hated us being cold.  We'd all snuggle up, or I'd pile spare duvet's on their beds desperate to keep them cosy and well fed so they never felt deprived.  I loved them so much, and I desperately wanted them to have full tummies and clothes that kept them warm.  I never take it for granted that those days are far behind me now, and yet somehow part of me feels guilty today that I've moved away from that place, and others are still there right now.
Cold. Isolated. Freezing.
Such a basic need and yet a far off dream for so many, how desperately sad that anyone should still be freezing at night with no warmth or safe place to soothe them into a restful sleep.
Last year I cycled over 360 miles to raise money for the housing charity SHELTER, and today I've taken the first steps to organising another fundraiser for SHELTER in the spring of 2013.
If the living conditions of just one adult or child is improved by the money raised  I will smile, rest for a bit, and start making plans for a SHELTER fund raiser in 2014.
"I think we all wish we could erase some dark times in our lives.  But all of life's experiences, bad and good, make you who you are.  Erasing any of life's experiences would be a great mistake." - Luis Miquel