James ... I can relate to your introspection on life changes. Mine has changed dramatically over the past three years. First, I retired in Dec., 2018. One year later, my wife died of a drug overdose after a long history of addiction and mental illness. Six month later, my oldest son died suddenly ... an indirect result of following the same path as his mother. But I have responded and rebounded and found both relief and peace in changing my own life ... all for the better. I'll someday document my journey in writing.
But I wanted to acknowledge your story. I enjoyed it. And I recognize and respect your ability to write your story so gracefully. -- James (Jim)
Thanks for your kind words Jim. I'm sorry you've been through such a lot, and admire that you've kept going with a positive attitude. I look forward to reading about that, too.
Beautifully written, elegant without trying. Thanks for remembering it for us. I envy your recall abilities! And great to see you at the weekend and making me laugh until i choked!
Thanks mate. Really great to see you and look forward to more posts - you're very much in our target audience for work about idleness, depression, anxiety and a forthcoming 10,000 words on managing piles!
What a lovely piece of writing. I can relate to emotional texture of it, though for me, the equivalent time and place was Manchester in the mid-1980s. I suppose that's because it captures so elegantly a common, if not near universal, experience of coming of age (and also the role of 'older friends' in that), or of the bitter-sweet nostalgia of contemplating that time from the perspective of middle-age. Thanks. Chris.
Thanks Chris. It was certainly an enormously formative time. I'm also struck by something my tutor at university said at the time - 'It's possible to have two very different experiences in your life at the same time.' I think this time was interesting for me because there were new beginnings amongst things which definitely weren't working, and maybe that is a big part of coming of age, working out what the things we want and need, and are all ours, are.
James ... I can relate to your introspection on life changes. Mine has changed dramatically over the past three years. First, I retired in Dec., 2018. One year later, my wife died of a drug overdose after a long history of addiction and mental illness. Six month later, my oldest son died suddenly ... an indirect result of following the same path as his mother. But I have responded and rebounded and found both relief and peace in changing my own life ... all for the better. I'll someday document my journey in writing.
But I wanted to acknowledge your story. I enjoyed it. And I recognize and respect your ability to write your story so gracefully. -- James (Jim)
Thanks for your kind words Jim. I'm sorry you've been through such a lot, and admire that you've kept going with a positive attitude. I look forward to reading about that, too.
Beautifully written, elegant without trying. Thanks for remembering it for us. I envy your recall abilities! And great to see you at the weekend and making me laugh until i choked!
Thanks mate. Really great to see you and look forward to more posts - you're very much in our target audience for work about idleness, depression, anxiety and a forthcoming 10,000 words on managing piles!
What a lovely piece of writing. I can relate to emotional texture of it, though for me, the equivalent time and place was Manchester in the mid-1980s. I suppose that's because it captures so elegantly a common, if not near universal, experience of coming of age (and also the role of 'older friends' in that), or of the bitter-sweet nostalgia of contemplating that time from the perspective of middle-age. Thanks. Chris.
Thanks Chris. It was certainly an enormously formative time. I'm also struck by something my tutor at university said at the time - 'It's possible to have two very different experiences in your life at the same time.' I think this time was interesting for me because there were new beginnings amongst things which definitely weren't working, and maybe that is a big part of coming of age, working out what the things we want and need, and are all ours, are.