Category Archives: family

A conditional hug

My grieving process began. I mourned not for something I had lost, but for something I never had…I had to accept that you can’t change the past, just as you can’t change other people. Nor can you force them to see the past from your point of view. You can only change yourself, your own perspective, and your future. Continue reading

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Cutting the ties that bind

Adventure Girl learns the hard way that some things never change ‘I didn’t break contact because of the way he treated my mother in the divorce; I used the divorce as an opportunity to break contact. His behaviour at that … Continue reading

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After the crab crawled, or ‘doormat-no-more’

‘She needs to grow up. She’s a dissatisfied middle-aged woman who sees herself growing old in an unhappy relationship, with kids taking away her life and she’s jealous of your freedom, although she wouldn’t have had the balls to make … Continue reading

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When a crab crawls out of its basket

From a very young age we are each cast into a mould. It shapes us as we shape it. We grow and evolve among like-minded people, or at least, among people who share a part of our mould. But as … Continue reading

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Nothing ventured, nothing gained

A lesson in reconciliation with Adventure Girl ‘You look so old.’ I’d just stepped into the restaurant. It took me a moment to recognise him. I was expecting someone tall, bearded and grey: the father I had last seen almost … Continue reading

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I had a dream…

Christine Priestly ponders a premonition. Last night I dreamed I visited my dead grandfather. He was slumped in an almost-modern couch inside a box-shaped room. He wore a pin-striped suit. My grandfather never wore pin-stripes. Rheumy eyes peered up at … Continue reading

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