Recently I turned my life on its head and left the comfort zone of home town, family and friends in Wellington (NZ), to start a new chapter in Western Australia. As I adjust to my new surroundings, I find myself thinking in the shape of stories and letters home. Feel free to take a seat and read on..

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Bittersweet

Leaving home to start a new life involves a mixture of many emotions; excitement, fear and hope are probably at the top of the list.  Many goodbyes are said in order to create a series of new experiences and forge a new life path. One hopes that most of those goodbyes will simply be farewell until next time, but inevitably there will be some goodbyes that are final.

I have only known Glenda for four years, which surprises me, as I feel as though I've known her forever. She came to work for me one night on a catering job, and we quickly became friends. In those few short years, I was privileged to be a small part of a life that had been fully and richly lived; undoubtedly with it's share of hardships, but always with a positive and infectious energy. I never came away from an encounter with Glenda without feeling better about everything; and always with an armload of gifts from her bountiful garden.  "Take some lemons!" was the catch cry, and the final part of any visit was always the last minute gossiping while we filled bags with the best lemons I have ever eaten. 
Then a giant hug from that tiny body that carried a huge heart.

'bye Glenda. And thank you.  xxx

2 comments:

  1. Thinking of you. It is so much harder to lose someone when so far away. I hope that you can find some way of remembering and honouring Glenda where you are, even if it is just to grab a pile of wonderful lemons and pile them up on your kitchen table.....

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  2. Thank you; completely by chance I was with one of Glenda's oldest friends from Wellington when we heard, so we were able to give her a little send off together which was lovely for both of us.
    I use lemons every day so she's never far away :-)

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