I'm sitting here with my hand on Jonny's ball wishing I was still in Dallas with you all.

Wow - I'm a poet!! 

Seriously - I dread the time to make this post - my thought's and thanks for the incredible time I've had.. because posting it means it's over and that's a pain I can't bear. I've got my own scale of pain, the pain of leaving clusterville and a Hel10 doesn't begin to describe it.

I had such a good time, from pulling up in the shuttle (not my broom, I left that on the runway!) Seeing Sarah, Carolyn's daughter who was the first to greet me closely followed by Svenn and Carolyn and then in the foyer meeting up with Patty and Ruthie and everyone - I could feel this surge of excitement building inside me - I was HOME!! 

Sitting in the bar that night and chatting to everyone was hilarious and so much fun, catching up, hugging kissing and grabbing Chucks arse before he got mine!

Some butt munch he is - I beat him to it! Sheesh! Chuck - what can I say? You're slipping my little sausage and you need to reset your radar 

Oh God but it was good to see everyone again, Carolyn I hadn't seen in three years, Mike and Jane and Jean in two years .. it's too long and you all mean too much to me. Don't make me go Limey on you!

Putting together the goodie bags was a lot of fun too - of course we had to sample the cookies to make sure they weren't poisonous - let no man say our devotion to the OUCH membership isn't all encompassing and bloody hard on the hips too..

We realised it was the first time the Executive committee had all been in the same room so we had to have a pic of Jean me Patty and Donna all together - it was a bittersweet moment I can tell you.

Friday dawned bright and fair and while some were able to go on the Lifegas trip I had to miss it as I just had too much other stuff to do, I was kind of upset about that.

Friday night was a lot of fun, chatting to everyone again until Donna and I went to pick up Prof Goadsby. He wanted to sit in the bar and chat with us and we had a great time until the security guard chucked us out. If you hear a toad hopping about with a Texas accent I had nothing to do with it... honest!!

My Goatie turned up on Saturday and oh boy was it good to see him again!!! Goat, I've missed you, it was wonderful to see you again and I wish I could have sat down and chatted to you for ages. I'm really sad I had to miss out on that. Goatie brought me the biggest bloody knife I've ever seen that isn't a sword! Paul is on his best behaviour I can tell you. LOL A lot of pics were taken already - I think Patty has some and I know a lot more WILL be taken before I go home - ALL will be posted too 

Speaking of weapons, I won the shiny!! I know that isn't strictly speaking a weapon but if I drop it on Pauls head it will definitely cure his snoring...

Jimbo made me the most beautiful walking stick I've ever seen - it even has my name on it. I was literally moved to tears by it. All that work and thought and love - for me. Jimbo.. I can't ever thank you enough for that, it means the world to me. Thank you for the regulator too. I didn't have one here and that was a wonderful thing to be given, Thank you.

Cathi the bracelet you made for me is gorgeous, I love the colours and the stripes in each bead and the difference between the front and back of some of them. It's just lovely and I'll wear it and think of you every time.

Carolyn as well spoilt me rotten. I feel like a real fraud, so many people gave me gifts and I don't deserve them one bit. Carolyn gave me a copy of her beautiful picture and also two copies of my favourite picture of hers. It's a very personal choice of pic and it's what it represents to me that makes it so special. I will always treasure that. She also made me a spice chiffon cake - and that was GORGEOUS! It was as light as a feather and tasted like pumpkin pie which I adore - that cake was sensational. As were the cookies which were not only a labour of love but bloody gorgeous - I wish I'd stuck Paul in the hold and brought a ton of them as hand baggage!!

The hotel was wonderful, the food was out of this world and the staff were the greatest asset the hotel could have. Apart from arctic temperatures it was the best hotel ever.

PG's talk was, as always, just not long enough. I could listen to him all day, he's just so fascinating. Paul and I took him back to the airport and he commented onn how impressed he was with OUCH and it's member's. I was very proud of you all for that - and I'm very proud of you and to BE one of you too.

Saturday night was the usual hilarity with the Know your Clusterhead game and the auction and I loved co presenting the awards with Donna. I have to tell you I was grinning like a Cheshire cat all day Saturday! I had a certificate and a card for everyone to sign for Donna which SHE knew nothing about, an Anniversary card for Mike and Jane which THEY knew nothing about and an award for Patty which SHE knew nothing about!!! Ain't no one can be sneaky like LeSneaky!! THAT was a lot of fun!

I have a huge thank you for Linde too. It's a very exciting time to be a member of OUCH and I'm very excited about working with the new BoD too. This is a time when it's all coming together, the hard work of EVERY previous BoD has all helped put us where we are today and as Peter said himself, it's only by working together we can move forward. No one else is going to do it for us, it's down to US (and he was including himself in that US) You and me people - it's our time, it's OUR OUCH and it's time to stand up and be counted 

I desperately want to mention everyone and say how much I enjoed seeing you all but I can't bear the thought of leaving anyone out. I love you all so much, the people I met for the first time this year and had an instant rapport with, the people I meet every year and everyone in between. You are all my family, you're all people I would move heaven and earth to help. Don't you ever DARE forget that!!

There are alot of you I'll be contacting to carry on conversations we started, to those of you I asked to email me - I meant it!! Please do!! I don't want to lose touch

To anyone who can meet up in Niagara or NYC - please come along, there is no joy like meeting another clusterhead.

Until next time, I love you all

Helen xxx

Hi Jim it's probably a tad too far for you but we'll be at Niagara on 3rd August with a few other ch'ers and in NYC hopefully 9th August but that is yet to be confirmed. I would love to meet up with you again!!