Monthly Archive: January 2021

When I was 17 I met the man I thought I’d spend my life with.  When I was 17 that man died.  For many years I pushed my grief into a box and shut the lid.  I’ve had close friends who never knew about it and I’d been with my current partner for over 10 years when I told him some, but not all, about it.  It happened decades ago, but this will be the first time I’ve written about it. It was only when I began to write about grief and to talk with other bereaved people, I found myself thinking about that part of my life again. At the time it wasn’t treated as a bereavement, so I struggled to...

There was a time in my life when New Year’s Eve was a very big deal.  Choosing your outfit and getting ready for what was potentially the biggest night of the year.  I have had some great ones.  Also had some that were not so great.  Sometimes I think the most memorable ones were the not-so-great ones, like the New Year’s Eve party which the host had massively catered and decorated for, but I was the only guest who turned up (or as she said to me “I’ve spent days and days preparing for this and you’re the only one who shows up!  I don’t even like you!”) This New Year’s Eve was probably the most non-event of a NYE I’ve been...