Snakes and Ladders

Life is like a game of ‘Snakes and Ladders’, and this week we landed on a snake. As we slid, we had to show up for appointments, complete a lot of paperwork, get the van and car MOT’d and serviced, get a tyre mended (a nail had paid a visit), and cope with Tim’s side effects from chemotherapy.

It was important to remind ourselves that we are still on the board, and, you could say, this week has been a lesson in slowing down, adjusting, and adapting.

I used to watch the pairs of seagulls wheeling in the sky when I lived beside the Mersey River, and this chapter of our lives together reminds me of them.

Neither of us can multitask or rush anymore. Mind you, that might never have been wise.

We are adjusting and adapting in myriad small ways, and hopefully this will carry us through. Together.

The mound of paperwork feels impersonal, and I ended one report with the line,

‘We hold hope and each other’s hands.’

Which reminded us of my favourite poem.

Hope by Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops - at all.

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land

And on the strangest Sea

Yet - never - in Extremity

It asked a crumb of me.

🩷