As we recover from the sudden and unexpected death of a dear friend, and this morning helped their husband into an ambulance after a fall - life seems so very fragile. I often teach about enjoying
I had started writing the above, when the news came that our neighbour had not made a recovery, and we were again in mourning (and shock) for the loss of someone very close to us. It has been an incredibly difficult four weeks as we have been shocked by the loss of our wonderful neighbours, a genuinely lovely couple that we have grown accustomed to seeing every day. Naturally our loss is very different to that of their family, for whom we have tried to be supportive.
While I have been working on appreciating each moment for the joy or learning that it provides - which has been going very well - it has been another challenge during this sad time to reflect at the end of life on how we look at a long span of time. Both our neighbours were in their 80's, and we had only known them for about seven years - it has been fascinating to learn more about their lives and to appreciate that each moment will then add up to something much more significant.
I teach on a course called 'Coping with Loss' and was able to use the resources for my own situation, and to improve and amend where necessary. Death raises such complexity to life and my main challenge has been in how to discuss the situation with two toddlers in appropriate ways, while trying to answer questions and not scare them. This challenge is ongoing, for the first time it's come into their awareness that hospitals can't fix everything...
The positive outcome is that celebrating a life allows us to focus on the overall good and not each individual moment - food for thought.
