Author: Oana

Father’s Day Gifts with a difference and giveaway

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Sunday the 21st of June will mark Father’s Day here in the UK. If you have a fussy husband as I do, who is not content with the easy and practical gift of a set of boxers, booze or a hearty meal, then you may want to consider these three alternatives as possible gifts. Hello Hungry liquid meals in a box. I was sent the three versions of Hello Hungry to sample and review a few weeks back. It was during the very stressful month of May (I wrote about in my previous post) and I was feeling rotten with repeated throat infections and colds. I used the drinks not as lunches but as mid-morning snacks. Very handy and packed with healthy stuff your body needs “for survival in the office(or in my case, school) jungle“, the drinks gave my mornings a boost and dare I say, helped my compromised immune system survive the stress? I was not too partial to the tomato and basil version(personal taste, nothing to do with the product) but I …

A Weekend on the North Coast

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The North Coast of Ireland should be on everyone’s bucket list, it really should! We love it there and were delighted when Cancer Fund for Children offered us a long weekend away in one of their cottages in the area, as we knew there will be plenty to do and see over the three days! We decided to make the most of the gorgeous weather and kicked off our weekend with a picnic in the fresh air, overlooking the Whiterock beach. Alex had made some gorgeous prawn and salad wraps that we devoured, almost tasting the sea salt in the air. My brother fancies himself a connoisseur of spirits and other strong drinks so we couldn’t miss the opportunity and visit the Bushmills Distillery since we were only a stone’s throw away. I would have loved a tour of the place, just to give a clear account of tastes to my brother 🙂 but since children under 8 are not allowed, due to the strong fumes in the distillery, we had to do with a …

This time last year…

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This is what I used to wake up to this time last year. And although the going was horribly hard and we were stuck in a hospital room and NEVER allowed out, for fear of infections, this little sweet face brightened my day. Every day. I have realised that most of you didn’t know us back then so this was meant to be an insightful blog post into what the cancer ward really is for a family. I wanted to tell you how exceptionally draining it was on our marriage, on our bodies, on our emotions to live apart. To not be together as a family for over two months. To live out of suitcases and plastic bags. To live off food that people kindly cooked for us all those weeks. To wish your daughter good night over the phone, with her crying and asking you to come home. To see your own mother crumble every time you walked in through that door, bone-weary and burdened to the ground with the load of your baby’s …

Forget Me Not

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This afternoon, we attended the annual Forget Me Not service organised by the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice for the first time. It was as emotional and raw and sweet and consoling as we had expected. We cried and we remembered our precious children and we smiled at the memories we had made with them in the hospice. Collective grief. Collective mourning. Collective beauty rising from the ashes of loss… We heard about love that transcends death and time and makes a way for our emotions to find our lost beloved babes. The pain of grief was compared to the thorn and the forget me not flower. Grief is and forever will be for every parent and relative present there a painful reminder of what we have lost and also the ultimate indicator of how much we have loved. Sorrow and sweetness, amalgamated in one. Pain and endurance, blended together. Coming together like this was sweet and sour as well. It was like a soothing balm to be given the chance to remember our precious children …

Ten months on: life as a bereaved parent

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How can it be ten months and four days since my son died? This is what grief has taught me in these past ten months: 1. Pain never leaves your heart but it takes other forms as time goes by The pain is not of the same intensity as it used to be in the first few days and weeks after Georgie died. I do not feel electric-like shocks when I pass by baby clothing aisles, when I hear the name of George, when I see someone pregnant. I have started to recover my memory. Not entirely, I don’t think it will ever be as before but I can now remember conversations and people’s names and dates. I have started to function almost normally again. I work, I look after the house, I blog. But… I still write when I am in pain. I do eat too much when I am in pain. I rage at nothing and everything when I am in pain. I have realised that I have started to pull away when …