The Reward is the Journey

Time is a strange thing.  We know how long a minute is, and how many minutes are in an hour, and how many hours make up a day, and yet a moment is so intangible.  Time is but a series of moments.  And moments pass at different speeds.  This year feels in some ways to have flown by.  And yet, when I survey it as I have done recently, I can acknowledge how much has happened.  How much has been achieved, and how much growth has occurred.  I wanted to be present with myself and to mark the day in a way that felt right for me, right now.  My feelings showed me the way and guided me as I allowed more moments to unfold, and to envelop and hold me.  I felt peaceful with the reality that it was a whole year ago that we finally said goodbye.  It was a long goodbye and, in many ways, it was last year that I was faced with the biggest loss:  the gap between the mother had known, and the woman I went to visit in those final months. ...

I was sad and probably slightly relieved to discover it was no longer available on iPlayer.  I had read the glowing reviews of the BBC's adaptation of Lisa Lynch 's book of the same name.  I didn't expect it to feature as one of my in-flight movie choices but am glad it did... Sheridan Smith as Lisa Lynch in 'The C-Word' (2015) Lisa's journey was hers and hers alone.  Yet there are clear resemblances to a journey of someone I hold very dear, whose  own courage and graceful determination continue to humble me on a daily basis.   Watching the 90 minute feature sitting amongst strangers, each busily entertaining themselves as we crossed the Atlantic was an experience I am unlikely to forget in a hurry.  My anonymity meant that my tears fell silently and, I imagine, largely unnoticed.  And yet it felt difficult: I wanted to insist everyone behold this wonderful portrayal, and soak up the many reminders it contains for those of us who live beyo...