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New beginnings for Jo
I HAVE a pack of Angel Cards. Each day I draw a card, and each day I get a little helpful tip about some aspect of life.
There are about 80 cards in the pack and they all carry supportive positive messages. One might say "creativity" and another "beauty" or "joy". However, 10 days ago I pulled a card that said "New Beginnings." In all the time that I have had and used these cards, I have never pulled "New Beginnings".
I thought that my new beginning would be a course that I am going on next week, or it might be the new beginning that I am going to make on my book, because it has been sadly neglected over the last few months.
But then a phone-call came in, asking me to undertake a project of teaching basic counselling skills to a multicultural group of people in Edinburgh.
Now that really would be a new beginning for me, and one I would welcome as something completely different. The message on the card was starting to make sense.
Then we set off for Wiltshire for our eldest son's wedding. The wedding was wonderful and picture perfect. After our youngest son's wedding, we secretly thought that perhaps it would be hard to match, but it did, in every way and in all sorts of different ways too.
It is hard to explain, but each couple made the day their own, so that any sort of comparison would be pointless. Our eldest son is a reserved sort of chap, and it isn't his way to be the centre of attention, but on your wedding day it really is unavoidable.
When his turn came to speak, he spoke well and thanked all the right people especially the bride's parents and then he came to us, his own parents. We were expecting the usual phrases, as all the important personal chat had already been done, but what happened next surprised everyone. He just couldn't speak, so there was one of those amazing pauses that spoke far louder than words.
It probably only lasted 10 seconds or so, but it seemed to go on for ever. Everyone was willing him to continue, and we too were frozen in time, with sympathy for him. Those close to him urged a few deep breaths, and there was lots of encouragement as he conquered his strong emotions, laughed and continued with the speech, finishing with beautiful and appreciative words about his new and enchanting bride.
Well that little pause seemed to burst some kind of damn in me, because tears that hadn't been anywhere all summer , started spurting like waterfalls at the slightest thing. And I haven't been alone.
New beginnings have never been truer. The eldest son got married, the middle son has gone to New Zealand to live and work for a year, and the youngest has started his married life by going back to University to study for another year.
So the nest has emptied well and truly. I thought I didn't have any "empty nest" syndrome, but it has struck me late on and taken me by surprise.
I have to admit that the chicks were getting a bit big for the nest! Of course I want them to have their new beginnings. I spend my life helping and advising people with difficult decisions and making changes. I persuade them to embrace change, be excited by it, look forward to it and certainly accept it as it is inevitable. But, my lesson is that when it finally happened to me, I didn't like it very much and the medicine is a little hard to swallow.
One of the things that I have learned over the years is that you teach the things that you have to learn. That is certainly true for me this week. So starting this minute, with this article I am going to apply the winning way of accepting all the changes with a happy heart. Who knows, there may be new little chicks in the nest before too long!
- Jo Middlemiss is a Personal Life Coach who lives and works in Edzell. You can contact her on (01356) 648 329.
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Weather for Brechin
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 25 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 3 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South west
