Today is the anniversary of my son in law's death, he was killed in Afghanistan at the age of twenty six. My husband was on a solo cycle ride in Norway at the time and immediately abandoned his trip and flew home to be with the family. The situation today is that my daughter has remarried to another military man and he is currently on a tour of duty abroad (we're not allowed to know where) and my husband is once again cycling solo in Norway. People are very kind and understand the difficulties of the day so I have had quite a few texts and calls, but to be honest I feel sick every time my phone rings.
No other anniversary has felt quite this bad, this one feels almost unbearably poignant and my eyes have been leaking all day. I just feel terribly, terribly sad and also frustrated and angry at the waste of a young life. My sons are both feeling very emotional too. The younger one was very close to his brother in law and today he's sitting an end of year exam at uni, the older one - who is now twenty six himself - says he can't imagine how his wife would cope if something happened to him.
My daughter is understandably weepy, but has sensibly taken the day off work and is spending it at a Spa with a close friend who was bereaved last year (she lost her 3 year old son). We will visit the grave together on Saturday and have planned a lovely day together then.
How much do you spend on yourself?
In light of our current weather.......
Water Pollution -“ A National Disgrace”? A case for renationalisation?