Amidst the tides and swirls of grief, I try to take time to see the rainbows.
This one came across the Valley, where we live on the hill.
It really was spectacularly bright and glowing. I wondered about the preponderance of rainbows we have had lately, across the Valley.
We saw a bight one the day after Gom passed away, after the thunderstorms, which had raged for the whole weekend while he was dying. I told my children, perhaps it was Gom, trying to tell us not to be sad.
We have had one of the wettest Julys ever, with the wettest day in 23 years. We have also had the coldest July day, for 8 years.
My heart has been frozen for many of these days, and some days it is an effort to just get out of bed.
I have discovered grief has Tides. Some are Seventh Wave tides, and some are just too overwhelming to name. They sweep over me when I least expect them, and there is no predicting how each day will be, or where the tide level will take me.
My Nice Neighbour, who has also lost her husband has taken me to the beach, on a glorious sunny day. We walked up part of the Skillion which is above the sea, at the end of the beach.
I saw a fisherman catch a fish, on the rocks far below, and I could tell, it was too small to keep. He looked up as if the say. "I will not keep this one." and he released it back into the water. I felt strangely comforted at the sight.
Mrs N N and I went out for lunch today together, and we consoled each other and laughed together about some of things we feel and notice.
There are bizarre things that strike the mind, when least expected.
The Undertakers, who came to take Gom, wore the most ridiculous striped trousers, with odd waistcoats.
We decided they looked like the Circus Band Members, and half expected them to bring out their trombones!
We asked each other why they would dress in such strange clothes. We finally decided it was to give family something to laugh about, at a time when everything was too ghastly to be fully realised, and stunned numbness was the predominant feeling.
My health checks have been completed, and it seems my heart is fine... well, physically, so I am told, and I have the pictures to prove it.
There are ridiculous things happen, such as, after cancelling Gom's credit card, and having to watch it being cut up ~ which was very confronting, somehow~ I get two letters in the mail 2 weeks later, with new Credit Cards, one for each of us, in shiny mint condition. I just cut those up myself.
Perhaps once all the Legals are tidied up, and sorted out, I might take a trip to my homeland, to stay with family.
I am making no plans or decisions.
I just take a day at a time.
