Some emails jump out and punch me
October 20, 2025 3 CommentsPhoto taken by one of Julia’s boarding school friends, and sent to me some days after her death 29 November 2022 I needed to find an email I knew would be in my inbox somewhere, and so typed in two Christian names that I figured would result in what I was looking for. The email […]
Read MoreBeing friends because your friend is dead
October 20, 2025 1 CommentMain image – a shop we chanced upon. Other photos my own these past days. 26 November 2022 I have been having a few lovely days in Paris. It might be best known for being gorgeous in the Spring, and I do like it in the Summer too, but I think it’s lovely in the […]
Read More“Relativiser”
October 20, 2025 1 CommentImage by Dan DeAlmeida on Unsplash 19 November 2022 A long, long time ago, I had a lovely colleague, (let’s call her Jeanne), who had a similar role to me, except she was head of a different office in our consulting firm. She was a bit older than me, and had had all of her […]
Read MoreFor once, the tears weren’t (only) mine
October 20, 2025 No CommentsMain photo by Zac Ong on Unsplash 13 November 2022 Last Sunday I completed a 20 km running event. My first event of that distance (or so) in three years. I wrote about the run’s run-up here. http://www.widowingemptynests.com/2022/11/05/keeping-active-hope-alive-for-cop27/ I have so often been on the verge of tears at various points in long runs – […]
Read MoreKeeping Active Hope Alive for COP 27
October 20, 2025 No Comments5 November 2022 Photos my own – in the local forests I love to run in Tomorrow I am participating in the Geneva 20 km run. The last time I participated in a distance like this – approximating a semi-marathon – was 2019. The year Julia died. I remember that event so clearly. It astounds […]
Read MoreOld habits meshing with new ones – aka from Sergy to Scheveningen overland
October 20, 2025 4 Comments29 October 2022 I am on a Thalys train, sat at Rotterdam Centraal, awaiting the departure to Paris. I have had a very short, end-of-week (as opposed to weekend/week-end), break to see Megan who is studying in The Hague. I am on my way home, and door-to-door, it should take me 11 hours if all […]
Read MoreWhen not to mention the death of a child…
October 20, 2025 1 CommentImage of Oświęcim by Vlada on Unsplash 24 October 2022 I went to see an extraordinary film last night – “Simone, Le Voyage Du Siècle” (in English, it’s been translated as, “Simone, A Woman of the Century”. The Simone in question is Simone Veil, French (and European) politician, women’s (and human) rights activist, and Holocaust […]
Read MoreWitnessing Deep, Rich Love, Sorrow and Pain in Others
October 20, 2025 No CommentsImage by Whoislimos on Unsplash 17 October 2022 I spent some deeply touching moments, minutes, hours yesterday evening, during my shift at the hospice. We have a beautiful new resident. She is a true beauty. Glorious skin and hair. Luminous eyes. Not so many people who are nearing their final days are graced with such […]
Read MoreThe Comfort – and Wisdom – of Denial
October 20, 2025 No CommentsMain image by Quliyeva Efsane on Unsplash 10 October 2022 I have been reflecting on Denial. I realise that I have come to value, appreciate, love and respect Denial. Not as a blanket approach to life, but as a bit of a cosy corner to hide away in from time to time. Or even longer […]
Read MoreAlone
October 20, 2025 No Comments1st October 2022 Image by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash I love David Whyte’s Poetry and Writings. I love David Whyte’s voice and the way he reads his Work. I love how he turns words over, how he massages formerly unnoticed meanings out of them. How he carves then places jewels in everyday words, so that […]
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