When Red Twin died, my world collapsed. It wasn’t that she was my whole world, but that grief was so encompassing, it touched everything in my world. You know how in Inside Out there are the ‘personality islands’, the things that make up who Riley is and energise her personality? […]
Some years ago my friend Emily gave us the book ‘Owl At Home’. It’s an early reader collection of short stories, and it’s become something of a classic in our family. In one of the stories, Owl makes himself ‘tear-water tea’ by thinking of sad things and crying until he […]
This day last year, 14th March, we got the call: get to the airport, this is the end. There was a strong possibility Red Twin would die that night while we were making the 30 hour journey. Our family sat at her bedside saying in between her Cheyne Stokes breaths, […]
When we are not telling Elliot the Dragon stories on the way to school, I tell Elliot stories from my childhood. It’s a way of me being known by him, and he frequently requests them. They always start the same way, “Once upon a time, there were four little girls. […]
I knew I had to make a plan for my 36th birthday, or else I would just end up doing nothing, which didn’t feel right. I thought I’d like to do something celebratory, to take what Red Twin taught me and apply it. And my mentor Moyra had written to […]
It’s my 36th birthday this month. See how I used ‘my’ there? 35 birthdays have been ‘ours’, but this one is only mine. I think some people have this idea that twins limit and squash one another, that if they could disentangle themselves from one another, they would be more […]
When Red Twin died, a number of people sent me this image, entitled ‘First Day in Heaven’ by Kerolos Safwat: It’s meant to be a comfort, to picture the relief and happiness of the deceased person, now that they are united with the One they have spent their life following, […]
Meet Jesus at uni 