Another postcard from the land of grief

Sometimes shops in holiday resorts would offer postcards with no picture. Instead, the front would contain a checklist of postcard style information which could be deleted as applicable. This might include:

• Weather is good/ bad/ indifferent
• Food is too spicy/ too bland/ interesting
• Hotel is smart/ shabby/ comfortable

Very soon, I shall have been living here in this land of grief for an inconceivable six months. This being so, I am sending a list back to that other place. These are lessons learnt here which count so very much there.

• Never believe that money is worth more than time – it is a poor trade
• There are many conflicting duties, but the primary call on you is love
• The things which have the highest value are those which have no price
• A beautiful view shared is a view immeasurably enhanced
• It is never too soon to say sorry nor too late to swallow your pride
• Every conversation has value, no matter how trivial its content
• Faith, hope and love endure, to coin a phrase

A moment of soggy joy in a sudden rainstorm on the island of Madeira