Why My Spoonie Blog Went Quiet

It wasn’t because I didn’t have anything to write about. I had plenty. But sometimes, blogging with chronic illness can feel like running a marathon on two sprained ankles. (Do not recommend.)

Dealing with grief and family life stole all my spoons. Even the borrowed ones.

August. Summer stretched with no end in sight. Most days, it was too hot to even breathe. And there was so much going on in my life, I just ran out of spoons to write.

And so the blog lay… well, not forgotten, but fallow. For the time being. But I never doubted that I’d be back. It was just a matter of time.

And patience. That perhaps even more.

Behind the Scenes During the Blog Silence

My dad died on 18 September 2025, and my sisters and I inherited his possessions, including the house. A house, that now needed to be sold. We already had buyers: my daughter and her wife.

But…

My parents grew up during World War II, and that had consequences. Consequences we were now forced to deal with. However, before we could do that, one of my nieces moved ‘temporarily’ into the house for reasons I still don’t quite agree with.

In practical terms, this meant we could do nothing. And the executor did nothing about it either. In fact, the executor had a lot going on at the time, and wasn’t really capable to deal with our inheritance.

I offered help. More than once, and always got the same answer: ‘I’m the executor.’ And no matter how often I repeated that the executor was allowed to accept all the help they wanted, they did not budge. They were determined to do everything by themselves.

A World War II Legacy

Finally, the house was sold (on paper) and as the date of transfer approached, the executor decided I was allowed to help now. With the practicalities of sorting through everything my parents had left behind. Which included literally all their own administrative paperwork dating back to… well, to before they even got married (which was on 15 September 1959). In addition to that, there was paperwork dating back to before the turn of the century (we’re talking 1900 here, not 2000).

Empty boxes, rusty tools, expired food, broken toys, mouse-eaten fabric… you name it, we found it. All up in my parents’ loft. And to top it off, there were mouse droppings, too. Lots of them.

So much to do. I went there every week, often twice a week, ignoring my body’s complaints. Climbing stairs when you’re mostly wheelchair-dependent is not my idea of fun. I can still do it—and up is far easier than down—but every time I climb a flight of stairs is one time too many.

The house is really sold now—not just on paper. The transfer was on 23 September 2026—a little over a year after my dad’s passing. There’s still STUFF in the loft. Stuff that needs sorting. More stair-climbing for me. More work that my body objects to rather passionately.

But what parent would I be if I left my girls to deal with all the crap things my own parents should have dealt with when they were still alive?

Hidden Treasures

Of course, not everything my parents had hoarded over their long lives was rubbish. I rescued some awesome antique books. Books I never even knew they had. Some old paintings that may not actually be very good, but they belonged to my grandparents. They hold memories I want to cherish.

My sisters and I went through my parents’ music collection and kept the CDs and vinyls we fancied for ourselves. Most, however, got donated. I inherited my dad’s old guitar (with a missing string), and my granddad’s barber’s equipment, including the display cabinet in which he kept much of it after he closed shop back in 1963. I don’t even know where to put it yet, but I’ll find a place for it. Most likely in my home library—which is still in development.

Meanwhile, an entire skip filled with rubbish has already been collected. And another skip now sits in the driveway. I have no doubt this one, too, will fill up fast.

Back to Blogging With Chronic Illness

My life is (hopefully) slowly returning to normal, and I hope to be able to post to the blog more or less regularly again. Right now, I’m aiming for once a week. Which—after months of blog silence—is quite an improvement, don’t you think?

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