Monday, December 21, 2015

'Tis the Season ...Rejoice ...

Evening all,

Tomorrow is Tuesday of Christmas week... 

What a gift just to be here, to be alive, to celebrate this momentous time of year, a time  that grows bigger & bigger with every year that passes; a time of year that captures our lives in a way that no carefully poised selfie can possibly do.

Every year the first Christmas card that arrives through our letter box comes from Mr Delicious' oldest friend Kevin, who emigrated to New Zealand many years ago. That card has been the reminder of a relationship that endures despite the miles & the time lapses.Each year it arrives with his address on the back of the envelope and year after year Mr Delicious puts it somewhere safe, paying homage  to a friendship that is  so far away & yet so near. This year there will be no card from Kevin, as he died tragically & so suddenly in June this year whilst out running in NZ just weeks before he was due to come home to us in Ireland with his wife Susie, where we were all going to party like the old days.

On Christmas eve at our traditional gathering, our core gang have been all be bereaved in the most tragic way;  Barbara has lost an ex partner & Emer the same friend,  to sudden death: Crona's beloved nephew died just 11 weeks after this magnificent & beautiful man & father  (42) was diagnosed with a brain tumor.Our son  Charlie was on his J1 in San Francisco, and returned home to attend the funeral of his pal Nick, killed in Berkeley, before returning back to complete what should have been a trip of a lifetime. Marie's beautiful dad Eddie, a man who at his funeral was (correctly) described as the definition of a gentleman, also passed away this year, whilst her beautiful son Keelan, is always fore front of our mind every year, at this very special gathering.

I am desperately sad & I  am intensely  grateful.

 Desperately sad for the losses we & so many more have suffered. But I am also grateful that today,  so close to Christmas, Mr Delicious, our children, my mom & all our siblings  & their children are here.

My blog is supposed to be a business blog: my life as an SME owner, but tonight as I reflect on life, there just doesn't seem to be a fitting place for such commentary.

Where ever you are I hope you are in a place to  share a peaceful happy Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Shirley xx


"and there was homecoming...
after 40 years in the states,
all dressed in dollar green, he comes home to his own faithful Kathleen..
they hug by a dresser of shiny plates....
oh Happy, Happy scene ..."

by
Patrick Kavanagh