Absence

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder so I'm going to use that to convince myself that in my being MIA for the last few weeks, the love between us all has grown. 
Am I kidding myself? I'm probably kidding myself.
If you're a hawk on social media, then you may have seen me giving a brief explanation as to why I'd dropped off the face of the Earth. At the start of August, my Dad was rushed into hospital with a serious condition and I flew back to the UK to be with him and the rest of my family. 
My Dad suffers from an Autoimmune disorder of the blood which sees his immune system attack his own body, killing off his red blood cells, effectively starving his body of oxygen. It acts like a ticking time bomb that lies dormant in his body for years, before springing into action and the emphasis is on keeping him alive until his body eventually corrects itself.
It sounds nasty, and it really is. The thing that my dad relies on most of all are blood transfusions which replace the red blood cells that his own body has destroyed and there's nothing more humbling than knowing that those donated bags of blood are the only reason I still have my Dad with me today. I don't wan't this post to turn into a drive for donating blood but you never truly understand the importance of it until you're faced with something like this. The last time my Dad was sick, he had 22 units of red blood cells transfused. 22 pints from people who took the time out of their day to donate the very thing that saved my Dad's life. 
To anyone that has ever donated blood, please know that there are a lot of people like me who are eternally grateful. Thank you.  
It has been a really stressful time for my family and I as not only was my Dad critically ill, but the hospital in which he was admitted to, failed on numerous occasions to give him correct treatments which effectively worsened his illness. Things are on the up though and although he's still currently in hospital, he's doing great. 
Thank you again to everyone who has sent me messages of support and well wishes for my Dad. I'm currently back in Abu Dhabi with different family members in tow so blog posts will likely be sporadic and somewhat brief until the start of next month. I hope you can all bear with me and I shall be back to regular posting as soon as possible. 
Much love.