Welcome to the Sunday Scene

18 June 2008

Greetings,

Awake with the lark this morning I lay reading a newly published book ‘Imagica’ written by a dear friend, before feeling drawn to sit outside in pre- summer solstice early morning sunshine and dew-fresh air. I watched midges become visible and then invisible as they flew into and out of range of the sun’s rays and pondered on how we all have to come into the light to be truly 'seen' in our full magnificence. In the shade we are but shadows of ourselves. This set me thinking about how, in the early stages of widow(er)hood we feel diminished, lacking focus, mental clarity or enthusiasm for life (in the shadows) but little by little, as we come to terms with singledom, our personality begins to emerge again and we feel our way back into the light. We will probably never be quite the same again but there are new challenges out there; different ways of using our unique skills and abilities, intuition and desires to discover and develop new facets of ourselves or to hone old ones. I’ve heard of eighty and ninety plus year olds taking on some amazing feats.

My way of coming back into the light has been in the setting up and running of our Breakfast Clubs for recently widowed people, a self imposed challenge calling for good organisation and leadership, creative thinking, training of facilitators, managing volunteers and our management committee, socialising at all manner of events, writing this website, applying for grant funding, attracting publicity and a whole lot more. I played to my strengths, have met many wonderful people and with the time available for total focus, have also managed to ride the waves of grief in a very positive way.

Not everyone would feel called to take on such a big project but our experiences have very clearly demonstrated a need for bringing widowed people together for mutual support, friendship and socialising. Added to this, I receive many e-mails from people via the website asking me if there is such a club in their part of the country or if not, how to start one. Today I’m very happy to say that if you go to our ‘Tips’ section you’ll find ‘Ten Tips on How to Start Your Own Club for Widowed People’. If you feel alone, lonely, in need of some social life and a new interest, take a look! Also in the pipeline is a ‘start-up pack’ which will go into a great deal more detail for anyone who would like to set something up on a similar scale to Sunday Scene Breakfast Clubs.

Wishing you fulfilment in whatever you choose to be involved with.

Jacquie