Am I allowed to call my husband a nut job?

Some might say 'nut job' is not very PC but my husband calls himself (and me, sometimes) a nut job! So, I'm going with that!

1. Speaking

Tomorrow Chris is the keynote speaker at an event. He is also Patron for the organisation.

2. Something I didn't know

A few weeks ago, when we were in the Jolly Anglers in Cumbria we started talking about a few different things over dinner. One thing led to another and during the course of the conversation, Chris told me, for the first time, that he had voluntarily spent two weeks in a psychiatric ward.

We watch a lot of The Big Bang Theory. A theme running through it is that Sheldon isn't crazy, his Mum had him tested. The joke in our house now is that Chris is a nut job because of his time on the ward. Of course, that's making light of things - but that's what we do. It's the same with Chris being blind. Gung ho is our mantra.

3. A new twist

People have heard Chris speak many times about the challenges of adjusting to being blind. The dark days (literally and figuratively) that he went through before emerging out the other side. But not many people who have heard Chris speak have lost their sight.

So, this time, Chris is going to talk about his breakdown which happened pre-sight loss, and it might resonate with people who face similar experiences.

I'll share more about this period in Chris' life after I've heard him talk about it publicly. He will have been formulating the structure and what he's going to say. But I've yet to hear him tell it to an audience.

4. Getting the message

Chris has gone through a lot of difficult periods in his life. More than most. We discussed how his breakdown was a pivotal moment. For many people you might have thought that would have been enough. But then, less than 10 years later, he lost his sight and had mental health issues, as many people losing their sight do.

Was that breakdown a test? Getting him warmed up for a bigger challenge. Or was it a lesson that he didn't learn the first time and had to go through something more profound? We don't know. We can only speculate.

Whatever the answer might be, both of these experiences have made Chris who he is today.