JettyAnother tag today, this time from Sandy who has asked me to share my ‘dream’.

I was all set to tell you about the place in the picture. Except if I told you, then you might go there and it wouldn't be my secret retreat any more.

So, never one to give a simple answer when an out-and-out dodge is available, I thought about it and decided that my dream is what I have right now. Is that cheating? Ah well, anyway, here goes:

I’ve had a tricky few years: miscarriage, disastrous (albeit brief) marriage, losing my house, having to leave the city I'd made my home,  single parenting, ex going bankrupt, trusted friend turning psycho, and some exceptionally bad haircuts. And my coping strategy has always been to think: “I have a goal. And every day I go to bed one step closer to the goal, the day isn’t a write-off.”

Except I was listening to The Climb a couple of weeks back (yes, it’s a Miley Cyrus track, and yes, I do realise my credibility just disappeared round the u-bend). There’s a lyric, though, that made me think: “I may not know it, but these are the moments, I’m gonna remember most”.

I worry I’ve let three amazing years pass me by because I’ve had half my mind wishing I was somewhere else. Focusing on getting through the bad means you're less able to see the good – and there's been a lot of it, despite the trickier stuff. Having watched my brother die from a brain tumour at the age of 27, I’ve seen that life’s short. Too short to waste time.

So my dream is this: that I will remember every day to look around and be thankful for what I have, to cherish the life I'm lucky to have, and remember that it's a journey not a destination.

Tonight the chap arrived at our place after a week working in London. We sat in the lounge, lit some candles. He laughed at my stories and we played guitar – one of us significantly less well than the other. He made sick faces but let me play Sarah McLachlan on Spotify. Then we made popcorn and watched a movie. It was a good night. And that’s enough.

That said, if anyone would like to give me a fake passport, a beach house in Nantucket and a book deal, that’d be okay, I suppose.

And I tag five blogs I’ve recently discovered, if they’d like to share their eminently better answers than mine. So, bloggers, what’s your dream? They are Welsh Hills Again, who makes me wish I had a garden;   My Hodge Podge Life because she’s new to blogging, and I like her virtual scrapbooks; Welcome to my World, Jan Mary – another blog with stunning photography that really lifts my mood when I look at it;  Tattie Weasle, because I don’t know how I didn’t find her sooner. And finally, Leslieanne at Kooky Boutique because she says she’s a daydreamer and I want to know what she daydreams about.