“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

This is why I write here.

I grieve tremendously some days, while on other days there is only a dull ache in my chest. Sometimes this dull ache becomes a blaring, intense blast of grief – of longing and love simultaneously.

But if I take that ache, or that intensity, and I turn it into words on a page – it doesn’t so much subside, but instead it transforms into something else. Something positive, something shared. To share is to lighten the load, as Mum would say – and that is what I am doing.

Thank you for reading – thank you for listening.

I will continue to lighten the load, and continue to show creative force as I write here, on this page.

I have this photograph. It is stuck on the wall above my desk. It is of a girl with blond curly hair and big blue eyes. She is cheekily licking an orange spoon covered in chocolate cake mix. It is her mother’s spoon, they have made a cake together. And whenever she is to see that spoon in later life, she will think of this photograph and remember the bond she shares with her mother. She is wearing navy blue overalls with small white buttons and red skivvy. The picture is taken on a slant, and because of this, it is possible to hear the giggles of the child and of her mother, the photographer, as she clicks the shutter closed.