Stories of life, faith, singleness and chronic illness
Why are married people so threatened by the idea that singleness might be equal to marriage? Equally valuable. Equally good. Or even, (shock! horror!) better? I was hopping mad after Morning Prayer on Zoom one morning recently. (Which makes a change from half asleep. It really isn’t my best time of day!). We had a … Continue reading Singled Out
It is forty five days since another human being touched me. Six weeks and three days. I am alone, but I am not alone in this. Many of us who are home alone during this lockdown are counting the days since we last touched another person, and comparing, and wondering when we will next be allowed … Continue reading Home Alone
1989 I am in a small town in Alsace for my year abroad. I started the year determined, once again, to ignore my symptoms and ‘act normal’ as advised by my dismissive college GP, hoping that this time – four years since I first got ill and still with no idea what is going on … Continue reading Sex, Whales, and a French Psychiatrist
‘Who says?’ I was taken aback. Who says that I can never be truly happy unless I am married with children? Well, just about every book, play, film, TV show or advertisement that has ever been written for starters. Society, churches, our families and friends. We all ‘know’ from childhood that ‘happy ever after’ has to include a lifelong … Continue reading I Was Made to be a Wife and Mother (Part Two)
I may have had mixed feelings when my first sister arrived, but by the time the second one came along, when I was 6, I was more than up for this mothering lark . My middle sister and I fought over whose turn it was to get her out of her cot in the morning, … Continue reading I Was Made to be a Wife and Mother (Part One)
Dancing in the Dark 