It is often said that there are two types of people in this world when it comes to how they perceive life: those who look at it as the “glass half full” or the “glass half empty”.  Before you run away screaming “Oh my God, Valerie is killing us with clichés!” and stop reading, I want to assure you, in the best Stephen Fry voice I can out on, that I will try my level best not to kill you with clichés (can’t promise anything on puns, innuendos or just pure boredom though! :D).

As many of you who are regular readers of my blog will know, the past few days have been a very emotional time for me with the loss of a school friend, Mary, who I had only recently reconnected with.  The news hit me hard, much harder than I ever expected, and I was surprised by it.  A few moments ago, I got a text message from my Mum telling me my Dad picked up his new hearing aid, much more high-tech than the very basic government-subsidised model he had been wearing for the past few years.  Dad was overwhelmed with emotion by this new device which is allowing him to hear music again.  My Dad is a natural musician – with no formal training, he could pick up any instrument and start playing tunes.  With the hearing loss, his quality of life deteriorated and caused a lot of angst and frustration amongst the whole family.  So with this latest news, I was once again brought to tears, this time from joy.

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