Break on through to the other side

Gotta love The Doors, right?

It's weird being on the other side of an experience you never knew how you'd get through.

Since caring for someone with a terminal illness can be all-consuming, it's taken me a while to even know what I just liked to do in spare time anymore.

Gardening till I got blisters was immensely helpful in externalising painful emotions. As was sitting for mind-numbing hours in front of the TV watching nothing in particular. Eventually, hints of what I felt like doing trickled through.

Learning how to mosaic has become a favourite. There is something immensely gratifying about creating a work of art from hundreds of shards of porcelain. You're putting together the pieces, in a manner of speaking.

Baking for tastebud-pleasure also re-emerged once my appetite did.

Not avoiding crowds anymore (as an ode to sucking the proverbial marrow out of life) has also led to some cool new experiences - expo's and markets visited, concerts watched and even braving a world cup soccer match!

Mourning is a bit like having a veil drawn over your life. Once it's lifted, the clarity with which you see things has changed. And since there are so many doors you can choose to walk through, you've kinda got to just keep on keepin' on.