Mingo.Life

Together, Stephen and Emma invite you to follow their journey. Through their blog, they share the highs and lows of their life experiences, offering a glimpse into their world of love, resilience, and triumph. Discover their story of overcoming adversity and the joy they find in their family life. We hope our story inspires and resonates with you!

[mingolifeblog]

Making Room - Week 3: Heatwaves, Thermoblocks and the Floor Beneath the Floor

In the first two parts of our blog series “Making Room“, the extension, renovation and disability adaptation of our family home was still something distant that we could occasionally stand back and admire longingly. An idea, if you will, born out of necessity but not actually erm… Born. Yet. There had been a lot of nodding, gesticulating and chin scratching going on. Numbers and dates wildly…

Making Room - Week 3: Heatwaves, Thermoblocks and the Floor Beneath the Floor

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Hello Again, Colin

Two years ago this week, I met an old man named Colin. The following few hours would change the direction of my life. A routine dental surgery turned into a disability. A life lived on medication, threatened by severe migraines around every corner, and filled with future uncertainty. At least… I think Colin was his name. I never actually asked him but, “Hello, Elderly Gentleman Opposite Me in…

Hello Again, Colin

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Making Room: Week 2 - The Roof Comes Off

So. We had a cup of tea, and “right” said Dad, “time to get the roof off”. The scaffolding is up, the garage door is off, the shed is erect. And you can read more and catch up with a link to WEEK 1 HERE. … I had just spent a thrilling morning counting roof tiles. I’d had a few quotes from roofers come through and it worked out that roof tiles for my particular roof cost about £5 (+VAT)…

Making Room: Week 2 - The Roof Comes Off

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(via The Surfer)

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The Surfer

Last week, I was trying to sell a surfboard. Partly in a symbolic “letting go of the past” sort of way, as my nerve pain is highly sensitive to cold water. Sadly, my days of riding the waves are over. My two feet remain firmly on land… For now. Six feet of fibreglass that had spent considerably more time leaning against walls than riding waves. A man came to buy it.He looked exactly to me how…

The Surfer

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(via Making Room: Week 1 - Scaffolding, Shed Building & Farewell to the Garage)

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Making Room: Week 1 - Scaffolding, Shed Building & Farewell to the Garage

So by now we have hired the builders, achieved full structural design, drawings in hand and planning permission granted (twice – because of an adjustment to Poppy’s disabled access door). We now knew the existing structure/foundations were good to build on too. In this update:Garage clearanceShed installationLoft boardingScaffolding installationPreparing for a wheelchair-accessible extension for…

Making Room: Week 1 - Scaffolding, Shed Building & Farewell to the Garage

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Under Construction: Our Home Extension & Renovation

We bought our “forever home” in 2019. By the end of that same day, Emma had given birth prematurely, our lives had completely changed, and the years ahead would bring disability, lockdowns, wheelch…

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Under Construction: Our Home Extension & Renovation

Under Construction: Our Home Extension & Renovation

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(via Every Upwards Trend Has a Dip)

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Every Upwards Trend Has a Dip

Someone said something to me last week that I haven’t quite been able to shake. “Every upwards trend has a dip.” He wasn’t talking about the stock market.He was talking about life. Which is interesting, because I’ve spent the last year feeling less like I’m on an “upwards trend” and more like I’ve fallen off the graph entirely and landed in a separate spreadsheet labelled Miscellaneous…

Every Upwards Trend Has a Dip

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(via Rain.)

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Rain.

Little water vapour,Thousands of feet in the air.Floating amidst a cloud,Of gravity, it does not care.Should it fall, it does not matter,Little droplets feel no pain.It wants to come and meet you,But we just hate the rain.

Rain.

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(via 10 Days of Pain: Part 5 - But where do we go from here?)

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10 Days of Pain: Part 5 - But where do we go from here?

This is the final part of a very personal series. Grab a drink and settle in. **** Part One: There’s Nothing We Can Do To Fix This Part Two: Open Wide! Part Three: I Can’t Sleep Part Four: Dr. Pain & The Ward of Strange Gentlemen ****It’s been a while since I last wrote.Christmas happened to all of us, and calling it chaotic would be generous. It wasn’t all bad news, however, as there has…

10 Days of Pain: Part 5 - But where do we go from here?

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(via 10 Days of Pain: Part 4 — Dr Pain & The Ward of Strange Gentleman)

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10 Days of Pain: Part 4 — Dr Pain & The Ward of Strange Gentleman

Previously, on Stephen vs His Nervous System… I had survived the most magnificent snoring I’ve ever experienced.I did not survive sleep. The pain’s back, the lights are on,and I’m about to meet a man called Dr Pain. — — — The next morning delivered another quote that would stay with me. I did, eventually, manage a few hours of sleep. As Day 4 rolled around, the curtains were thrown open by…

10 Days of Pain: Part 4 — Dr Pain & The Ward of Strange Gentleman