E - Vida

  Gran Jean's Birthday 2020 When something significant happens, I feel a lot of pressure to say something profound. A wedding, a pregnancy, a milestone birthday, a death, an achievement, a disappointment... All of these moments are major occurrences and the pressure is on to say something powerful and to mean it!  So it's really bothered me that I haven't been able to put into words what has been swirling in my head since we received the news that our dear Gran Jean passed away in June. When Gramps Ikey passed away ten years ago, the words fell into place almost instantly and I felt that they encapsulated both my memories and grief so well. But this time, between the distance and the unexpectedness of her passing, I am still in a state of disbelief today. My Grandmother was so much more than the beesting cakes, lengthy special occasion speeches, homeopathic remedies, everyday life hacks and choice phrases that often come to mind - especially over these past two months - an

If you've stuck around, ever hopeful of a new blog post, I'm here to reward (?) your long-suffering. Read on... If you'd prefer the abridged version here it is: The last post before today was published in March 2020. Today is August 2021.  It has been a minute. What a year it has been. Since our last post we've gone from school-at-home in March to June 2020, to summer holiday under our first "lock-down". School for the kids was back in-person for the entire academic year beginning August 2020 until June 2021 and their reward was ten weeks of summer holiday ... and now here we are, one week away from the 21/22 school year - masks and all. Somewhere in between that, I graduated from college and participated in our online graduation ceremony as the 2021 student speaker! ( Yes, I don't know either... ) Completing the two-year degree felt really good and I'll admit that a part of me misses it already...but don't tell anyone I said so.  It seems as thou