I'm Natalie Lou in your listening to the baggage reclaim sessions.

Hello hello.

How are you doing?

Is it too weird to say happy new year given that it's almost the end of January?

Yes, I have been on a break for what is it about five, six weeks?

And that's due to it being my usual Christmas New Year break,

but also because I was headed to Jamaica for a retreat. I did that from the 12th to the 19th and it was

brilliant. Foroughly enjoyed myself. Now the thing is is that a few hours after I recorded the

final episode of 2021 my youngest daughter tested positive for COVID which wiped out all of our Christmas plans that we had with

various friends and family and then we managed to have a normal Christmas day because our youngest had obviously tested negative by then.

We've got a few more days of normality, including a couple of nights away and then my husband M

tested positive for COVID on New Year's Eve and so the cycle started all over again. And of course because I was

preparing to go to Jamaica the plan had been to basically quarantine so really take

it easy with sort of going around places to limit the possibility of getting COVID and then not being allowed to travel because of course I had to do a fit to fly test before leaving and if I got COVID then next thing you know I was

going to have it to be cancelled in my flights and the trip and I just did not

want to do that. I was ready to get out of here and get to the sunshine. So it was interesting

quarantining at home but also trying to dodge COVID in your own home. Obviously I was in a spare room I think

for I think was nine days because M didn't stop testing positive until days nine and ten so it was like oh my gosh and

then we had like a couple of days of like normality and hanging out and then I was

off to Jamaica. The retreat that I went on in Jamaica was hosted by Jessica Huey, who is the author of a book called Purpose, which was published by Hey House.

I first read it, I think, I think it's 2018,

so it would have been the year after dad passed away.

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