Pick Me Up! 14-Mar-2019

Swinging a leg over the quad bike, I held on to the back of the bike tight with both arms. ‘You ready?’ he called back. ‘As I’ll ever be,’ I laughed, somewhat nervously. It was October 2018, and my hubby and I were trying our hands at quad-biking while on holiday in Kos. Only shortly after taking off, we realised our bike was faulty. Whenever Rob tried to brake it simply sped up. As I held on tight, Rob did everything he could to keep control, but it was no good. We lost control and plunged into a ravine, saved only by a few brambles. Amazingly Rob was unscathed, but I wasn’t so lucky. Several broken ribs, fractures and I’d lost half of my left thumb. But Rob was a…

We cannot get enough of our pretty in pink girl Mila, 10 weeks, and want to show her off to the whole world. Carla Jackson, via e-mail My hubby Alan and I enjoyed spending some much-needed us time on a trip this Valentine’s. Shelley Barrett, Sheffield This was my first visit to Abu Dhabi to the Sheikh Zyed Grand Mosque, what an absolutely beautiful building. I was mesmerised. Abigail Harden, Denbigh It all started with a mouse... specifically my little man Conrad, 4 months. Isn’t he adorable?! Hayley Jamieson, Glasgow What better way to avoid the endless British winter than to jet off to Panama with my friend Julia. Genna Cooper, Waltham Cross It’s the Mario Bros... well almost! My friends and I were off out to celebrate a football…

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Huddled together, me and my friend Kelly could barely speak for laughing as we gossiped away. Kelly, 13, was one of the coolest girls at school. She even pulled off wearing the stiff blue skirt and yellow shirt that was our uniform. Fearless and bold, she was a world away from the shy, uncertain, naive girl I was, even if we were the same age. So, when she invited me out for the evening, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Mum and Dad weren’t too pleased, suggesting she might be a bad influence on me, but we had a plan to put their worries at ease. ‘Kelly’s staying with her grandma while her mum’s out of town, so we’ll be staying there,’ I lied. In fact, Kelly was telling her…

I hated myself. So much so, that when I was 14, I took an overdose of Mum’s prescription drugs. ‘What have you taken?’ Mum panicked as I stumbled drowsily into her bedroom. And even after two months in a children’s psychiatric unit, I was still a broken teenager, hiding a dark secret I couldn’t bring myself to talk about. Growing older, I became promiscuous, letting men do whatever they wanted to me. My only view of sex was violence. When I was 16, I came home late, drunk and high on marijuana. He taught me how to love, and proved to me I was loveable ‘Where have you been? What if you’d been attacked?’ Mum fretted. Little did they know, I already had been. The following day, I left a…

Arriving at the local pub for the first time in years, I clocked a familiar face at the bar. It was back in November 2011, and Derek Wild, 21, beamed. ‘Great to see you!’ he grinned. I’d known Derek since we were 14. I’d fancied him a bit back then, too. He’d been a boxer then - loud, confident and funny. ‘I’ve given it up now,’ he said. If he wanted a doormat, he’d picked the wrong girl I was 22 and had left Gravesend four years earlier to join the Army. Stationed in Portsmouth, I’d been a missile gunner in the Royal Artillery. I’d loved it. But now, after a leg injury, I was being medically discharged. As my service wound down, I started going home to Gravesend at…