New Love in the Time of COVID-19
April 16, 2024 1 CommentMain picture courtesy of street artist Ruben Rojas, in Los Angeles 17 May 2020 How does a new relationship, even one that truly feels right, profound, rich, loving… how does it survive, how can it survive, in the time of COVID-19? How can Zoom sessions, WhatsApp calls and texts, photos, and even the occasional letter, […]
Read MoreMultiple Versions of Mother’s Day
April 16, 2024 No Comments10th May 2020 Today is Mother’s Day in North America. And, closer to home, in Switzerland too. The day during which, in former times, people congratulate mothers on being mothers. People bring their mums flowers, make them a meal, take them out for a meal. Or just call them and perhaps send them a card. […]
Read MoreThreadbare
April 16, 2024 1 CommentMain Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash 3 May 2020 I am in a hard place. A fragile space. Hard and fragile. That sounds like “brittle”. That works too. The six weeks of “hard and fast and furious dates” between 27th March and 2nd May are finally over, culminating in Ben’s 21st birthday yesterday. I so wish he’d […]
Read MoreBittersweet
April 16, 2024 No CommentsPhoto by Bannon Morrissy on Unsplash 24 April 2020 More stories of dates. And Dates. Sometimes I count a year as 52 weeks. Sometimes I count a year as 365 days. Or 366 days as the case may be. Sometimes I remember the day something happened. Sometimes the date is more important. And sometimes the Date. It’s all […]
Read MoreSame and Different – with a difference
April 16, 2024 No CommentsFeatured Photo by Sarah Treanor at streanor.com Writing started on 23rd March 2020, and finished on 8th April. Then finally posted on 23rd April. I have wanted to apply the “Same & Different” tool from Human Systems Dynamics for a while on a “sticky issue”. https://www.hsdinstitute.org/assets/documents/5.1.1.13-same-and-different.pdf But which sticky issue? I have so many: The […]
Read MoreMessages From Mike
April 16, 2024 2 Comments19 April 2020 There seems to come a time in life for those of us who do not grow up with formal religion – and perhaps it’s triggered by loss and hardship, perhaps by age – where we search for meaning in losses and in life, and messages or clues that there might be something […]
Read MoreTill Death Do Us Part
April 16, 2024 No CommentsFeatured Image “Till Death Do Us Part” by Damien Hirst 13 April 2020 On this day, 13th April, twenty-four years ago, in 1996, it was snowing lightly up in Grasmere, in the English Lake District. The kind of snow that melted as it touched the ground, but that looked ever so pretty as it was […]
Read MoreTaxing Memories
April 16, 2024 No CommentsPhoto by Carli Jeen on Unsplash 12 April 2020 Since becoming an independent consultant in 2012, my least-favourite task – that of preparing my income and expenses for my tax return – has been consistent. For some reason, I fail to compile my expenses and invoices on a monthly basis, despite my diary having a “reminder”. Presumably something […]
Read MoreHard-Won Resilience
April 16, 2024 5 Comments5th April 2020 One of my professional colleagues confessed, a few weeks ago, that “It feels awful to say this, but my, isn’t the Coronavirus beautiful?” I admit I did a double take. She added, “Not what the Coronavirus is causing, engendering, but the virus itself. The images we get of it are just beautiful. […]
Read MoreThe Wrong Kind of Dates
April 16, 2024 No Comments26-29th March 2020 About a year ago, I ventured a little toe into the on-line dating waters. Everything about the idea was absurd, unfathomable, unimaginable. Before that, I’d had a couple of months where I bravely, if hesitantly, asked trusted friends, “Do you know anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone (etc) who might know […]
Read More