Even since I was a teenager I’ve felt the need to ‘process’ experiences and that’s one of the reasons I’ve always kept a journal. ‘Processing,’ for me, means reflecting on what’s happened and drawing the key lessons, wonders, magic, sweetness, mysteries ….. and carrying them forward so that they don’t get lost in the morass of racing around.
I remember mentioning this need ‘to process’ to a friend many years ago and she looked at me as if I was cracked. Cracked or not, it’s still something I need to do and, in many ways, blogging has become part of that.
For example, lots has happened over the last few days and because I haven’t written, it all feels like a mumbo-jumbo of ‘stuff’ that risks being lost in a mega tangle that will just have to be dumped.
I would love to know what YOUR view on processing experiences is. Is it fundamentally important to you or do you just move on to the next moment without a thought?
What was SO important over the weekend, you may reasonably ask. Well, here’s a very brief synopsis!
1. I got to see my legendary hurling hero, Ken McGrath, at the brilliant, evocative, All Star Challenge Match I was so looking forward to last week.
Photo: Harry Fox
2. Mount Congreve Garden was beyond beautiful on Saturday morning:
3. Sunday 29th brought happy, happy memories of my Great Aunt Anna who has to have been the most romantic, fun-loving, generous person I’ve ever known. She married for the first time, aged 72, and she and her husband personified the word ‘sweethearts.’ She died very peacefully, aged 90, at dawn on June 29, 1991, as she and I held hands for the very last time.
4. It was a weekend of having fun in my new role as marketing manager for The Carpet Shop in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. Carpet is all about texture, colour, sense of place … so here’s a sample of where it took me as the sun shone!
And, of course, to the beach:
SOCIAL BRIDGE ~ Jean Tubridy connecting with you from Ireland 