Widowing Empty Nests

This Life. THIS One

April 27, 2024 2 Comments

Lac de Lamoura, French Jura. Photo my own, taken yesterday, 28 August 2021 29 August 2021 I have been doing some reading, learning and re-working on Narrative – aka the story/stories I/we tell – whether to ourselves or to others. Narratives are potentially powerful vehicles for life, living, how we show up in the world, […]

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Just how do we ever do this?

April 27, 2024 No Comments

Image courtesy of Sarah Treanor (www.streanor.com) 22 August 2021 This is my 104th piece of writing for Soaring Spirits International, which means I have been writing here for exactly 2 years. A piece a week.  And sometimes I write more frequently on my own personal blogsite. I had been widowed for over two years, and […]

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I am beginning to see what you’ve lost

April 27, 2024 2 Comments

17 August 2021 All photos my own – French, Spanish, Andorran Pyrenees I am just back from three weeks holidays spent with Medjool. It’s been lovely. Refreshing. Renewing. Most of the time we were walking in the Pyrenees, east to west, heading from the Mediterranean sea towards the Atlantic ocean. We walked for about 12 […]

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Three-Way Pact

April 27, 2024 No Comments

Image by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash 23 July 2021 What does someone, who wants to believe in the spirit world, and believe that we are souls having a human experience, do, when she has a “meh” experience with someone claiming to connect with spirits of loved ones who have died? She finds another spirit whisperer. […]

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Yet Another Secondary Loss

April 27, 2024 No Comments

Main image by Patty Brito on Unsplash 17 July 2021 I have had another big secondary loss. Secondary losses are the endless losses that pile on following the primary loss(es) – (i.e., death). Secondary losses relate to needing to move house, finance changes, slight or major shifts in friends’ dealings with you, minor or dramatic […]

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Noticing and Shifting Patterns of Living with Loss(es)

April 27, 2024 No Comments

Main image by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash 13 July 2021 In the last few years, I have come across the field of “Human Systems Dynamics” (HSD), which offers ways of thinking and tools for exploring complex human systems. I learn about it mostly for professional reasons, but since my professional and personal interests are so […]

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Sunrise over Chamonix after running through the night

April 27, 2024 No Comments

Photos my own, taken in Chamonix, France Originally written on 7 June 2021 Early in June this year, I was invited to write piece for “Like the Wind” magazine, founded by my friends Julie & Simon Freeman. Her “ask” was to write something running-related in.connection with the Sun. They wanted to have a series of […]

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Commemobrating

April 27, 2024 1 Comment

Photos my own 6 July 2021 I survived last week.I survived 30 June and 1 July.I survived the two year “deathiversary” of Julia’s death. Forever split across a date line, two days of the week, two dates, two months, even two quarters.Because from when I “know” she took her life, to when she was “officially” […]

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When “ex” means alive

April 27, 2024 No Comments

Photo my own. Our wedding rings turned into this necklace by jeweller Heather McDermott on the Isle of Skye 2 July 2021 Something I noodle over from time to time, is the weirdness of the word “ex-“ when prefixed to another word. Like “ex-boyfriend” or “ex-lover” or “ex-wife”.  The “ex-“ invariably means “alive”, and not […]

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And life, with all its devastation, trundles on

April 27, 2024 1 Comment

Punch-to-the-gut-photo which popped up on my facebook feed this week …. Julia & Megan playing oboe & flute, 21 June 2014 28 June 2021 I have just read a HuffPost article about how differently the “Back to Normal” phrase can be received by people, depending on what you’ve been living, what you’ve experienced.  The link […]

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