Comings and Goings

Today our little flat has been a whirlwind of activity since 6am when I got up to feed the animals. Shelagh, my sister in law was up (as she usually is) and packing as she is starting her long journey back to Vermont today.

By 8am we’d all breakfasted, the washing machine was doing its last very noisy spin cycle and Shelagh was checking her emails – anything to delay that awful half hour before she had to leave to get the train. Then Steve, the scaffolding fellow, arrived to give us a quote for scaffolding as the house needs repainting and bits are falling off the top flat and the TV aerials need moving and the flat upstairs needs new windows. Phew.

Steve dealt with the inside mayhem very well – Mollie barking frantically at this change in routine (and where’s my walk Mum?) – Shelagh dashing for a last minute pee, me trying to put the washing out.

At 8.30 her lift arrived to take her to the station and we looked at each other. I realised with a terrible drop in my stomach that it would be another 2 years before I see her. Two years? And I thought of the last 3 weeks – how come they went so quickly?

For the last six weeks I’ve been very short of sleep and this has made me exhausted, so unlike my normal hyper self. I haven't been able to take her places because I've been zonked. Last night I said, ‘we haven’t done half the things we meant to.’

‘No,’ she said with a smile. ‘But we’ve done other things.’

This morning we hugged on the pavement and I tried to stifle the gaping sense of loss. Hoping the journey back will go without a hitch. Realising that we’re all getting older and that travelling and – well, just living – takes more out of us.

As she hugged me she said, ‘Butterfly! That’s the clue.’

I quizzed her but all she said was, ‘like The Purloined Letter.’

‘What?’ I said. ‘Who?’

‘By Edgar Allen Poe.’

I groaned. ‘I haven’t read that.’

‘You’ll just have to look,’ she said. ‘See ya!’

We waved her off and rushed inside like children to scour the living room. Finally, on the mantelpiece, I saw a beautiful paper butterfly with a note attached.

Below the butterfly find a contribution to the Frivolity Fund. Love, Shelagh and thank you for another super holiday. Xxx to you both.

What more can I say? Thank you Shelagh.