Well John and Bob are back , and so are Jacob and Florence , although it took them a little over two and a quarter hours.It’s lovely to have the house buzzing ( and messy ) again.
I have mentioned Michael Rosen before, I think he writes brilliantly.His son Ed ,died suddenly and tragically,aged 19 of meningitis.If you ever want to read a short book on grief ,read ‘The Sad Book’..it is so true.Well he has just written the foreword for a new book ‘Aspects of Loss- A companion in bereavement’ by Gill Hartley,whose son ,Will died , aged 22. When I read Michael’s words ,it sort of made sense as to why I write this blog……and I quote
“I don’t think we know for certain why or how writing about loss or bereavement seems to help us and I’m going to have a go at it here.When we write, we do something slowly and deliberately, choosing words and phrases that matter. Things seems to make us lay things out in an order.We give the mass of feelings whirling around in our heads some kind of shape. It’s a way of sorting, and sorting figures largely in the way we humans survive and progress. People who can’t and don’t sort are people who find it quite difficult to cope with everyday things.So that part of writing which seems to be about sorting, is a way of helping us cope with these deeply sad things.
Then there’s the matter of taking things out of yourself and putting them on a page in front of you look at what you’ve written is a way of appraising who you are and what you’re about.You find yourself asking questions; am I really like that? Do I really think those things? Am I really that unhappy?
After all, there are times when those of us who’ve had this particular part of bereavement feel that we aren’t really part of this world-and in the end we all lose someone; we are all left by someone at some time.we thought for a moment that it was only us who had this happen to them ;it was only me who felt this bad.true, but not true!
So I wish this book and all who sail in her ,the best of lives. Or, as people say in the Jewish tradition,’long life!’.