My Experience of the Bittersweet Circle of Life

This week’s blog is short and sweet, and inspired by real-life events.

Last week I experienced “the circle of life” in full.

On Monday we said goodbye to my father-in-law — my husband’s step-father. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer in the summer but died much sooner than any of us expected on 4 November.

On Tuesday we welcomed our grandson, my step-son’s baby boy, to the world.

Bittersweet just about sums it up.

John’s funeral was beautiful, as far as these things can be. Held at a woodland burial ground in Norfolk, with floor to ceiling windows that allowed us to see the trees that surrounded us, we came together as family and friends to remember the life of a man who — to me — epitomised the phrase, “a life well lived.” I’m glad to have been known by him and to have known him, all be it only for five and a bit years.

The birth of my husband’s son’s baby was hugely welcome, of course. A new life, a new human, with all the hope, anticipation and joy that such an event brings. What will he be like? What adventures will he experience? We hope to meet him this week and can’t wait to walk alongside him as he grows, celebrating his highs with him and supporting him through his lows.

An old man’s life ended, a baby boy’s life just beginning.

This puts everything else into context: keeping on top of work, keeping in touch with friends and other family members. Cheesy as it may seem, the Lion King’s, “Circle of Life” came to my mind this week . . .

“It’s the circle of life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
’Til we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle
The circle of life.”

God bless you, John.

And welcome to the world, Louis x

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