My beloved Georgette died a year ago today, hard to believe that it has passed so quickly.
I could tell you that it has prompted me to think about her, but the truth is that not a single day has passed without thinking about her. I am sad of course, but most of the time I am either laughing at something that has reminded me of her sometimes offbeat humour, or realising just how much she has influenced my life.
Her legacy to me has unfolded slowly over the last year. Some of it is because I have tried to fill the gap she left, she taught me how to create a celebration, a party, a feast every day for the smallest reason. She was always surrounded by friends and she made new friends easily because she was so interested in everybody.
Some of her legacy to me, seems to have been deliberate on her part, a way of introducing me to.............. a wider part of this community. She had left instructions that she wanted me to do a reading at her funeral, so while all I saw was a sea of faces, I became quite well known as a result of doing that and many people have approached me since then as a direct result of that.
When I moved to France, all I could think about was how I would settle in, the house, the admin, how I would earn a living. It seemed like an impossibly huge task at times and didn't leave much time for anything else. I've always been a dreamer in the sense that leads to concrete ideas and goals to achieve, but at that time I was very much submerged in all that.
Now I find myself settling in in a different way that I could never have envisaged, putting down deeper roots. It is time for me to give something back to this wonderful community that I love so much. So, I have decided to stand for election as a local councillor. Who knows what the outcome will be, the process has already been a fascinating insight into local democracy.
A while ago, someone was talking about how often I go home, and I completely misunderstood what they were talking about because I am at home here.
I could tell you that it has prompted me to think about her, but the truth is that not a single day has passed without thinking about her. I am sad of course, but most of the time I am either laughing at something that has reminded me of her sometimes offbeat humour, or realising just how much she has influenced my life.
Her legacy to me has unfolded slowly over the last year. Some of it is because I have tried to fill the gap she left, she taught me how to create a celebration, a party, a feast every day for the smallest reason. She was always surrounded by friends and she made new friends easily because she was so interested in everybody.
Some of her legacy to me, seems to have been deliberate on her part, a way of introducing me to.............. a wider part of this community. She had left instructions that she wanted me to do a reading at her funeral, so while all I saw was a sea of faces, I became quite well known as a result of doing that and many people have approached me since then as a direct result of that.
When I moved to France, all I could think about was how I would settle in, the house, the admin, how I would earn a living. It seemed like an impossibly huge task at times and didn't leave much time for anything else. I've always been a dreamer in the sense that leads to concrete ideas and goals to achieve, but at that time I was very much submerged in all that.
Now I find myself settling in in a different way that I could never have envisaged, putting down deeper roots. It is time for me to give something back to this wonderful community that I love so much. So, I have decided to stand for election as a local councillor. Who knows what the outcome will be, the process has already been a fascinating insight into local democracy.
A while ago, someone was talking about how often I go home, and I completely misunderstood what they were talking about because I am at home here.
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