Tuesday 25 February 2014

What they wrote

Here are a couple of extracts from the journal (sisters) Pam and Annie wrote the year Annie was dying. We're launching the journal on Sunday: Fields of Gold.

ANNIE                                                       Sunday 20 April 2003
Last night the kids were here. There was music playing, the sounds of whistling and chopping, cooking noises, recipes being changed. I was in front of the fire under the mohair rug. And I tell you what: I was in heaven, or pretty close to it, about five kilometres away. Sometimes I wonder: why didn’t I come to this place earlier? Then I remember – oh, that’s right!

Graham says he’s noticed some frailty in me. And there is, at times. In the mornings sometimes, the tears come – just pop out. This morning they came. I wet Graham’s pillow. But they weren’t hot tears. They were cool by the time they hit the pillow. And I think, it’s only ten days since I had the treatment. I was told I would feel terrible. But I haven’t been trampled by an elephant; I’ve been trampled by a sheepdog.


PAM                                                  Sunday 18 January 2004
Life has been far from straightforward. At times I feel like I’m in a paper boat, bobbing on a current, which takes me anywhere it pleases. At other times it’s felt like I’m under an ever-changing sky. I look up and find there’s been a dramatic shift. And I’ve had absolutely nothing to do with it.

I’ve been wrestling with the question of how to give expression to my own needs and feelings when I’m with Annie. A week ago I was feeling dismantled and, consequently, distant from her and me. Lots of crying.

Now, three days on, I think there is no place for any of this while Annie is alive. I was almost appalled that I would take any measure of sorrow into my interaction with her.

And now, as I write that, the pendulum has swung again. How could sorrow not be present? And so the sky changes. My boat sails on.


 

7 comments:

jacaranda said...

I am moved to tears just reading this :) Thanks for the notification, Penelope. (this is Claire from the green green valley west of of Henderson :)

Melissa Green said...

Penelope and Pam, I couldn't be more overjoyed to know that Fields of Gold has been launched with love and celebration into the wider world. Congratulations to all and special thanks to the ever-dependable Ratty.

Penelope said...

Hello Claire, yes it's a pretty special book — a gift, really. See you before long.

And Melissa, thanks for sharing your delight and congrats. Ratty will probably try to take all credit for everything in due course. The wider world has some terrific writers to celebrate. xx

susan t. landry said...

penelope, this looks to be a treasure for both sisters, and a gift to all readers. what good work you do there at Rosa Mira.
(btw, when you say you are looking for reviewers, what do you mean exactly?)

Penelope said...

Hi Susan and thanks. I ought to be more specific but I'm thinking of several possibilities, all including a free copy of the ebook, and with the reader writing about their response, whether in a few lines or a longer piece, on their own blog, on a bookie site or for the Rosa Mira blog.

Penelope said...

Hi Susan and thanks. I ought to be more specific but I'm thinking of several possibilities, all including a free copy of the ebook, and with the reader writing about their response, whether in a few lines or a longer piece, on their own blog, on a bookie site or for the Rosa Mira blog.

Anonymous said...

Penelope, I met Pam last year in Glasgow and would be happy to review the book for the BMJ Medical Humanities blog here in the UK. I write for them from time to time. Would this be of interest?
Best wishes, Clare Best