Sharing

I wasn’t feeling well this week and so Kaveri wrote me a note

How kind and thoughtful is that?

… and then I stumbled across this study which reaffirmed what we know —- how relationships are critical to a happy sustainable, satisfying life.

What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness (Robert Waldinger | TEDxBeaconStreet)

Here’s my girls …

My Indian wife and daughter.

Farrell Factoid Footnote

Kaveri isn’t actually my daughter but it’s as if I’ve ‘adopted’ her and support her on behalf of my beautiful caring compassionate wife

Bring on the Cake.

The delicious cake complete with family.
Manjula’s Memory Tree decorated with hanging messages and wishes.

Not forgetting Lucie being spoilt by Ina.

And then again, not satisfied with one we had to have another.

This time following the theme of the radiant sun that Manjula brought into our lives and still appears exactly when it’s needed.

Ina worrying the sun is about to explode

Gathered today on Manjula’s bench, next to Manjula’s garden, eating Manjula’s radiantness cake and celebrating her wonderfulness on her 51st birthday celebrations that have already gone on for a week. we have Kaveri, Radhika, Maria, John, Ina, Lucie and Stephen.

Please note Ina is naughty, bribing Lucie for affections with cake.

Italian crazy hair accompanies us to deliver Kaveri back to school.

That’s after Mr No experience was coerced into decorating Kaveri’s palm

Next day

SB couldn’t miss out and had to have more cake….

Yes that’s two pieces. One was supposed to be for her son Naveen.

Should I be Retracing steps?

After meeting up with our mysore BnB family at WOMAD and knocking on a few of their doors I went camping.

I was apprehensive about revisiting the same places in Dorset where we’d had a family camp to celebrate Alice and Ben’s (eldest son) wedding and my 60th birthday during Manjula’s second U.K. holiday

I shouldn’t have been.

It proved to be a tonic.

I like Weymouth
Rachel and Simon of the lovely ‘hive’ cafe even remembered our visit five years ago.
Catching a ferry
Making new friends from Yorkshire
Who’s that bearded idiot?
Then back to Ruth’s in Bristol,

over to bee-man Stephen to drop our beautiful tent, return the fancy hire car and prepare to return home

In my experience, when grieving, we regularly get ambushed by memories of magical times together. They make me both happy and sad. I’ve learned not to run away but to face them, even create them, so it was ok to retrace my steps.

Thank you for joining my journey and your support.

MAnjula anniversary continuing

Sowbaghya did a wonderful job helping us remember MAnjula with assistance from Satish and Tanuja and guests, all friends of MAnjula.

Finally providing food on the roof for the crows who just might be Manjula’s soul looking for food on her journey to finding a new body.

We need to cover all bases, in case she hadn’t found a new home, as yet.