A couple of weeks ago I ventured up north to spend a week with my aunt, who I hadn’t seen since 2019. As much as it was a much-needed break for me – from work, from London, from the four walls of my bedroom – it would be an understatement to say it was a break neither of us realised how much we needed.
We spent sunny days cooking my grandmother’s recipes, basking in the conservatory and garden, eating mangoes and reminiscing about our lives – how have things gone and where will they go next. We talked about friendships and regrets, painful experiences and momentous achievements, family history and travels, age and youth, love and trauma.
If this sounds like it was a lot, that’s because at times it was. 😂 But I found we don’t realise how much of our memories we carry without truly unpacking them, the good and the bad. It’s belated but I feel I’ve done that now and so does she, freeing us to take forward the bits that will benefit us.
Our unplanned quest for the meaning of life happened to coincide with a heatwave, which took us to Blackpool for a day. It was a day filled with pure enjoyment, eating fresh chips on the sea wall, paddling in the warm sea, stacking bundles of rock to take home. It was the kind of day you talk about for days after.
Shop this summery look
I came back from my trip up north feeling rested, filled with love in my heart, peace with the past and belief in the future, focused on what I want out of life.
If I’ve learned anything from my aunt it’s that life is definitely not perfect and it’s not always fair, but if you can look back one day and what stands out in the memory is a life filled with love and laughter and experiences, then it was a life worth living.
