💜 We Did The Thing. We Actually Did The Thing.

Right. I’m home. I’m in my pyjamas. My wig is off. The glue is, shall we say, still having a moment. And I am absolutely, completely, utterly floored — in the best possible way.

Tonight was the Burntwood Spoonies Gathering at The Grangemoor, and bab — we pulled it off.

Now, before I get into it, I want to say this first: I know how hard it is to walk into a room full of people you don’t know. Especially when you’re managing chronic illness, or you’re a carer who’s been running on empty for months. The decision to come out tonight, for some of you, will have taken everything you had. I see that. I really do. And I am so, so grateful you came.

🏛️ The Grangemoor did us proud

Huge, huge thanks to The Grangemoor for opening their doors to us and giving us the space we needed. An accessible venue that actually works for our community — it matters more than most people realise. They were brilliant hosts.

And a special, heartfelt thank you to the girls at Harvey’s Kitchen. You know who you are. You came tonight after what had been an honestly awful night for you personally, and you still showed up and made our evening something special. That gorgeous little boy of yours made our night. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

🥕 Twenty Spoonies walk into a pub...

There were about twenty of us. I know some people might read that and think — only twenty? But honestly? Twenty people with chronic illness and their carers, out on a Tuesday evening, some of them having borrowed spoons they don’t really have? That’s not “only” anything. That’s remarkable.

We had conversations I’ve been craving for months. Real ones. About invisible illness, about caring, about isolation and the strange particular stress of it all. About the things you can’t explain to people who haven’t lived it. And we had a bloody good laugh while we were at it — including a rather competitive game of Spoonie Bingo. Well done to our winners. You earned those spoons.

🎥 I said a few words. (Okay, quite a few words.)

At the end of the evening, I grabbed my phone and said thank you properly. Or at least, I tried to. I may have gone on a bit. I may also have had one too many vodkas by that point. But I meant every single word of it.

There’s a video below. I’m not going to tell you everything I said in it — you can watch that for yourself — but there’s a thank you in there that I mean with my whole heart, to someone without whom none of tonight would have happened. You’ll know who I mean when you get to it.

💜 If you didn’t make it tonight — come next time

No judgement here. Ever. Life with chronic illness doesn’t care about your social calendar, and last minute cancellations are not just understandable in this community — they’re expected. You’re always welcome, whenever you can manage it.

And in the meantime — my inbox is always open. There is always someone in this community who will answer a message. You never have to be alone with it.

✨ Three Good Things Today:

1. Twenty incredible people showed up. Twenty. That’s everything.
2. The Grangemoor and Harvey’s Kitchen made us feel genuinely welcome.
3. I made it home without taking out any doorframes. (Barely. But still.)

“You are not alone. You never were. We’re just finding each other.”

This one was a team effort 2014 from me, my Spoonie Yin and Honorary Aardvark Aimee, and the ever-essential #techguypaul. We’re all in this together, bab.

With love,

Sha 💜
aka The Wheely Happy Aardvark
KOKO 💜

#WheelyHappyDays #KOKO #BurntwoodSpoonies #SpoonieLife #ChronicIllness #InvisibleIllness #WheelchairLife #Burntwood #Lichfield #Staffordshire #SpoonieSupport #ChronicIllnessCommunity