Author: Oana

Grief, galvanized

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I have been on the road that no parent ever wants to walk for a year and two months now. In the car today, Alex made a random remark that got me thinking and now, writing. “You have come a long way“, he said, not meaning it as a hurtful remark but as encouragement and praise. Have I truly? I suppose it all depends on the way one looks at things that molds one’s perception. Yes, it does seem we have travelled a long way on the grief path. Our life, post Georgie, has taken turns I have never known to have existed, let alone desired or planned to take before I lost my boy. If I were to put it simplistically and squeeze it all in two sentences, I guess I would say that: 1. grief has completely and utterly transformed me on the inside. 2. grief has(paradoxically and illogically to the non-bereaved) liberated me to see the world in a way I wouldn’t have been able to, had I not lost my son and …

Metsovo – a fairytale land

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I simply cannot believe our summer holidays are nearly over and that, most likely, my next blog post will be written from our cosy Norn Irish home. I still have so much to write and tell you about Greece!  I had promised you another post on the Thessaloniki cuisine, I had planned a series on the four of the biggest cities in Greece(which we all visited this summer: Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra and Ioannina) and I am sorry I haven’t been able to find the time to write it all out.  I will keep some of the excitement and magic in safe keeping,  to be written at a later date. I need to thank you all, friends, colleagues and blogging community members who have followed our Greek odyssey this summer on Instagram, cheering us on, leaving the lovelist of comments and liking our pictures. The things I could not include on the blog are there, all graphically and esthetically pleasing, do stop by and have a wee look! The last post, and probably the best in …

A bereaved parent’s perspective: one year on

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This summer it has become obvious to me that our lives have been altered beyond recognition by the loss of our son. Like with any trauma, the first few months after Georgie died were a living nightmare.We had no energy for anything, we argued a lot, we raged at the world and at God and clung desperately to the hope that one day the pain would not be suffocating and all encompassing, feeling terribly guilty at the same time for wanting to emerge from that cloud of memories, as that was the only place where our son was still “alive” to us. Our first Christmas without Georgie, the Christmas of 2014 and the one we should have celebrated as a complete and perfectly balanced family of 4, was for me the closest I had come in my entire life to mental collapse. I could not see the sense of any of it. Not the sense in Christmas, as what is Christmas if not the ultimate opportunity to celebrate life, joy and enjoy your offspring and …

Ithaca- the rhythms of an island

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“As you set out for Ithaka hope the voyage is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them: you’ll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them unless you bring them along inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up in front of you.“ C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems We set out for Ithaca with only dreams of rest but what we received, during the not quite full two days we were there is much more. We received a revelation. Things looked bright when we set out for the island and sister and brother in law announced they will be travelling in the same direction and not only that, that we will be all staying in the same hotel! We took the ferry from Patras, the harbour in which so many immigrants have arrived over the …

Back to school: simple lunch box ideas

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The summer has been flying by and all too soon (or not, for us, parents!) the kids will be back to school. I have been very busy here ordering things for Emma returning to school as a big P2: her school shoes, the name labels and loads of pretty stationery. We will be heading to Tesco as soon as we arrive for new shirts, Emma loves their embroidered collar ones and her PE shoes. Their are all good quality and very good value for money, too. One thing I will not be worrying about this year, compared to last year, when she was only starting school, are her packed lunches. Last year, with a bit of creativity, a few cheap shape cutters and loads of seasonal props, we finally managed to overcome our fear of eating sandwiches and just in time for school. These very simple changes were so very successful that her lunch box came home empty every day, without fail, and I never worried that my little girl would go hungry while in …