On this day, two years ago, Abi fulfilled a four-year-long ambition… to earn her junior black belt in Kung Fu. She’d attended Chi Wai Academy twice a week for all those years, working solidly through her belts and badges. Rarely complaining. Always disciplined. Impressing us and her peers with her determination, skill and flexibility (touchingContinueContinue reading “Abi’s Black Belt”
Tag Archives: child bereavement
Halloween just got scary
[I didn’t post this blog about Halloween at the time, I suppose to avoid offending anyone or to put a damper on the fun, but reading back on it, it’s certainly worth sharing. It’s not a major worry for me now, and who knows how I’ll feel about it in the years to come, butContinueContinue reading “Halloween just got scary”
Keeping memories of Abi close on holiday
While debating where to go on our first summer holiday without Abi, I posted about the memories we had of so many places we visited regularly with our ‘Abi family’. The Isle of Wight was one of them. Our last holiday together had been to Shanklin and we’d had a fabulous and very memorable time.ContinueContinue reading “Keeping memories of Abi close on holiday”
Blogging it out of my system
Since resuming my blog, I’ve had an outpouring of writing (or rather overthinking!) and have realised I’ve posted around 20 new blogs in just two weeks! Yikes! When I paused the blog some seven months or so ago, my mind had stopped knowing quite what to say. I’d managed to get Abi’s story down -ContinueContinue reading “Blogging it out of my system”
There is always tomorrow…
Some days I feel like grief has slapped me in the face so hard. This was one of them, about four months (in July) after Abi died. I wrote about this particular day as it was a full 24 hours of challenging thoughts and emotions… Last night, I dreamed about ending my life. Well, toContinueContinue reading “There is always tomorrow…”
Family comforts … but who’s comforting who?
The death of a child, quite naturally, has a huge impact on an entire family and the aftershocks can be widespread and ongoing. In my case, my immediate family (husband and other two children) were emotionally torn, yet we had to find a way to continue to live our lives together, finding new routines andContinueContinue reading “Family comforts … but who’s comforting who?”
Balancing the kindness of strangers…
[Taken from notes written around July 2013] After Abi died, we kept people informed via Facebook, which was a great help to us as it saved having to contact lots of people at an impossibly difficult time and also prevented any misunderstanding about what had happened to her – many people who knew Abi wereContinueContinue reading “Balancing the kindness of strangers…”
Four months on… what is grief anyway?
[This blog was taken from notes I’d written whilst sat with Abi at the cemetery around 10th June 2013.] Four months on, is that right? Have I grieved? Have I even started…? What is the point of all that crying if at the end I still feel such deep and painful sorrow? Crying usually releasesContinueContinue reading “Four months on… what is grief anyway?”
Water Bugs and Dragonflies
We came upon this story when preparing Abi’s funeral and the vicar read it out. We knew many people of all ages would be there and wanted a reading that everyone could understand and, hopefully, find comfort from. The history behind this popular story is as follows. Doris Stickney and her minister husband were lookingContinueContinue reading “Water Bugs and Dragonflies”
How many children does a bereaved mother have?
The note about what to write in a card to a grieving person in my last post seemed to strike a cord with some readers. Some recognised the uncertainty of what to do for the best, others realised they’d never considered how this simple gesture could be interpreted by the recipient, others recalled past occasionsContinueContinue reading “How many children does a bereaved mother have?”
Chasing Dragonflies 