Hard Beliefs to Swallow
May 3, 2024 3 CommentsMain image from me.me 23 February 2021 One of the myriad books that’s been on my list forever is Gary Zukav’s 1989 book “The Seat of the Soul”. It’s been recommended to me by many people over the years, not least Oprah and Maya Angelou, as well as my “Grief Therapist” Tom Zuba. It finally […]
Read MoreSabre-Toothed Tigers on French Country Roads
May 3, 2024 No CommentsRandom Sabre-Tooth Tiger Image off the Internet. Other photos my own. 14 February 2021 I am on a French TGV, leaving behind me my parents who live south of Perpignan. The train left the station about 25 minutes ago and I am already in the lagoon-rich part of South East France, pink flamingos on either […]
Read MoreHello Wall
May 3, 2024 2 CommentsShirley Valentine Images from various Internet sites 4th February 2021 One of my favourite ever films is Shirley Valentine. It came out in 1989 when I was 22 and had already been in relationship with Mike for two years. I remember feeling so sure that I would not while my life away, or stick around […]
Read MoreTerry, I wish I’d loved you while you were still alive
May 3, 2024 No Comments2 February 2021 I like to claim that “I don’t do guilt”. It’s not that “I don’t do guilt at all”, it’s more that I try to catch any guilt quickly and figure out if the guilt is bringing anything of value. Mostly it’s not. Same same with regrets. I like to say “I don’t […]
Read MoreA Wave of Fresh Green Grief Amidst the Snowy Whiteness
May 3, 2024 1 CommentAll photos my own, 24 January 2021, above Darbella, French Jura 25 January 2021 Yesterday was a gloriously sunny day, brilliant and bright and fresh and sparkling after the recent snowfalls. Medjool and I had already decided that we would head up into the Jura for a cross-country ski. He knows the region better than […]
Read MoreExercising Optimism in Griefland
May 3, 2024 No CommentsPhoto by Marian Kroell on Unsplash 19 January 2021 I often feel very fortunate that my professional and personal lives, interests and development, are so inextricably linked. I cannot actually imagine it being any other way. I learned early on that in order for me to be able to do my professional work effectively, I […]
Read MoreYes, I know David Bowie died five years ago
May 3, 2024 2 Comments11 January 2021 Main picture taken in 1973, perhaps 1974, soon after our move to Brussels ….and so did my brother Edward. I also know that this is a blog site about widowing, and I am widowed. But when my husband Mike died in April 2017, I had recently lost both my youngest brother Edward […]
Read MoreWise and Kind Babes
May 3, 2024 2 CommentsPicture from August 2020 in Camargue 3 January 2021 There has been a recurring question asked of me these past 18 months or so, which is both the time since Julia died, and also the time since I have (formally) been in a relationship. Oddly the question is not about Julia, nor about how I […]
Read MoreShattered Christmases
May 3, 2024 2 CommentsRandom image of broken Christmas tree 23 December 2020 Weird shit happens at this time of year. Weird shit gets said at this time of year too. It feels like it is just a stream of obscene extremes. So many types of polarities and tensions, to hold and somehow absorb. To try not to get […]
Read MoreMissing and MISSING
May 3, 2024 No Comments16 December 2020 Main image by Sarah Treanor on streanor.com One of the (many) difficult things about loss and grieving is that while it makes up an inordinately large portion of my life (and is sometimes all-consuming), it is hard to express, lonely to experience, and frustrating in its unpredictability. I rarely feel understood except […]
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