It’s been a long time coming, with a couple of attempts in the past, unsuccessful and fleeting… With all the emotional turmoil of the last few years, exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and the recent passing of my Mum, my levels of anxiety (and no doubt many people around the world) have shot through the roof. Physical symptoms associated with…
Mother’s Day…
Today has a bitter sweet taste. My Mom passed away nearly 2 months ago. It was a long time coming as she had Alzheimer’s Disease, in the very late stages, for quite some time. Yet, I still don’t know how to deal with the definitive loss. She’s no longer here, I can no longer touch her and feel her warmth……
Incomplete…
We’ve just come back from a long stay in sunny Portugal. The kids were with their Dad for nearly 4 weeks (I was working from home in Portugal as well), and then came to me for the last 2 weeks of their school holiday. We had time in the countryside and we had time at the beach. And, apart from…
Mothering is also letting go…
It was thirteen years ago today that I became a mom. I can’t say that I knew what that meant back then. Sure, I had an idea, but really understanding what it meant… I didn’t. Do I now? I’m not sure. One of the reasons why I think motherhood is an art, rather than a science, is that each person…
The S word
What do you do when your 10 (almost 11) year old, proposes that the “solution to this situation” (which he knows I’m gonna be mad about) is suicide? It was the second time he mentioned this. And I thought I had dealt with it pretty well the first time. That I nipped it in the bud. But clearly not. Saying…
Is 2 thirds good enough?
My three kids are twelve (almost thirteen), ten (almost eleven) and seven (almost eight). I wanted to have kids that were close in age, mainly because I had this notion, from my own experience, that siblings with big age gaps wouldn’t be close, wouldn’t be friends. I grew up feeling closer to my cousins who are 2 and 4 years…
It’s a new day, a new dawn, a new life…
We couldn’t have seen the end of it quick enough. The year 2020, annus horribilis, where almost 2 million people died because of a virus, Covid-19. Unless you’re a green man from Mars you know exactly what I’m talking about. And if you’re one, like me, who was fortunate enough to see the calendar turn to 2021 and is still healthily…
Empathy…
In my professional life, a couple of years ago, I met a lady that was driving this concept of Empathy in corporate settings. She is successfully raising awareness with CEOs across all industries to the importance of having empathy with your employees, your suppliers, your customers. Up until today, I hadn’t even noticed that that simple concept was a key…
Re-learning…
This year has been a rollercoaster for most people, on account of the global pandemic we’re all facing… But for the relationship between my eldest and I, the pandemic prolonged a situation that started at the beginning of the year, when after a disagreement, she decided she hated me and wanted to go live with her Dad. My other two…
The aftermath of lockdown…
It was on 16th March that I hugged my kids for the last time in a long time, when I dropped them off at school in the morning. They didn’t know then, and they thought it strange, when I hugged them so hard and didn’t want to let go. I knew it was going to be a while. I wasn’t…