This was my wedding bouquet. Can you spot what’s at the heart of it?

It seems apt to share its story on this #InternationalNursesDay
It holds all kinds of treasures & trinkets including:
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">Offcuts from my wedding dress
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">The fabric from my husband’s tie
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">Bows from my favourite pair of shoes from when I was 6 (yes, I kept them...)
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">A brooch from my Great Aunt Trixie
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">A cufflink from my grandfather
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">A dress stud from my great grandfather
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">A ceramic rose from my brother
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">An earring from my grandmother
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😻" title="Smiling cat face with heart-shaped eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Smiling cat face with heart-shaped eyes">Lucky whiskers from my cat and my mums cat (no, really, there are whiskers in it)
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">All those odd broken bits and bobs that would otherwise have had no home
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable=A dress stud from my great grandfather https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">A ceramic rose from my brotherhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">An earring from my grandmother https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😻" title="Smiling cat face with heart-shaped eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Smiling cat face with heart-shaped eyes">Lucky whiskers from my cat and my mums cat (no, really, there are whiskers in it)https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">All those odd broken bits and bobs that would otherwise have had no home" title="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">A dress stud from my great grandfather https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">A ceramic rose from my brotherhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">An earring from my grandmother https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😻" title="Smiling cat face with heart-shaped eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Smiling cat face with heart-shaped eyes">Lucky whiskers from my cat and my mums cat (no, really, there are whiskers in it)https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">All those odd broken bits and bobs that would otherwise have had no home" class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
And at the heart of it, this.

My mum’s treasured nursing badge.

She, Lesley Mary Schweder, trained at @RoyalLondonHosp - she’s the one looking pensive in the bush! She then community nursed in the East End before leaving to be a ward sister in Ireland.
My mum was too poorly to come to my wedding in 2009. I had no family there in the end.

I clutched my bouquet knowing I wasn’t alone as I walked the aisle, alone.

Carrying mum - and her kindness & compassion, the hallmarks of nursing - with me.
The bouquet now stands in my hallway.

It makes me smile every day as it’s filled with objects of joy from the past.

And every time I find a whisker I tuck it in. It’s probably now half cat. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😺" title="Smiling cat face with open mouth" aria-label="Emoji: Smiling cat face with open mouth">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😽" title="Kissing cat face with closed eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Kissing cat face with closed eyes">

And, one day, it will all belong to my daughter. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">
The bouquet now stands in my hallway.It makes me smile every day as it’s filled with objects of joy from the past. And every time I find a whisker I tuck it in. It’s probably now half cat. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable=https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😽" title="Kissing cat face with closed eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Kissing cat face with closed eyes">And, one day, it will all belong to my daughter. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">" title="The bouquet now stands in my hallway.It makes me smile every day as it’s filled with objects of joy from the past. And every time I find a whisker I tuck it in. It’s probably now half cat. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😺" title="Smiling cat face with open mouth" aria-label="Emoji: Smiling cat face with open mouth">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😽" title="Kissing cat face with closed eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Kissing cat face with closed eyes">And, one day, it will all belong to my daughter. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💗" title="Growing heart" aria-label="Emoji: Growing heart">" class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
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