Meet on the ledge

It's New Year's Eve, the turn of the year. I'm choosing to spend it alone, to take the opportunity to think about the challenges and triumphs of 2017. I'm also thinking of the people who have left my life and those who have become part of it. I've lost and gained family members. Two much loved aunts have died, but they have left a legacy of love and inspiration. I have a wonderful granddaughter, nearly a year old. It's been such a pleasure to see my daughter and her husband become such fantastic parents. All three of my children have achieved so much in 2017.I'm so proud of them. I've said goodbye to friends who have been with me for many years, who had a huge impact on my life and will always be part of it, even though our paths may not have crossed in recent years.I have reconnected with precious old friends and I've made new friends. I have witnessed people I care about deal with the deaths of their grown up children. So it's been a year of sunshine and showers, a real foxes' wedding. Richard Thompson's song Meet on the Ledge meant a lot to me when I first discovered it as a teenager. I didn't interpret it as a funeral song, but I did think it was about loss and parting and the hope that loved friends would return to my life. I imagined the ledge as something like Alderley Edge but narrower, precarious, but with long views over a beautiful landscape. As I said goodbye to friends and family this year, I was reminded of the song and the image. Interestingly, Richard Thompson didn't write it as a song about death, but was asked to sing it at his own mother's funeral. Wishing all who read this a happy and healthy 2018, with the strength and support and resilience to deal with the challenges it will inevitably bring and plenty of triumphs and joys to lift the spirits and create hope.