Weekly Photo Challenge … Acheivment

On old years night 2013, my daughter and her partner who were visiting us from Brazil joined us on the edge of Thames to release some sky lanterns. As a family it has become a little tradition when we give thanks for the last year and make wishes for the new year. A silent ritual which is usually followed by a few glasses wine and a new year celebration with Jules Holland (on TV) No more is said about our personal ‘gratitudes’ and wishes.  I am always careful how I word the wishes as they can have bitter/sweet responses  but I am sure I would have asked for long life and good health for all beings etc.

My visitors returned to Brazil a week or so later, but not before we had buried my mother who died early in the New Year.  The a week later my daughter and her partner, while on their motorbike were hit by a car coming from a side street, each suffering a broken leg.

None of this could have been prevented no matter how much we wished that night. Nonetheless as I grieved for the loss of my mother and the ‘awayness’ of my beloved daughter alone and in pain in a foreign country, I did feel that the Wish Master had been a little unfair!

So time passed, my heart and the respective legs have almost healed, life looks OK again; it is hard to ‘mark’ the achievement we have all made this last 9 months in one image. This graffiti on  wall near my daughter’s home one of the many ‘works’ we saw in our stay in July is very cheering and celebratory.