Today is Rembrandt's birthday so I chose to share one of his sketches of an elephant. Elephants have special significance for me due to my best friend Mia. On what would have been my father's 60th birthday, Mia presented me with a custom made sterling silver pendant necklace made by our friend Alexandra Mosher . The pendant is pictured and is engraved with the words March Forth. My father's birthday was March 4th, and his grandmother always said it should be his motto for life: to always "march forth". The elephant is significant because elephants are partners for life, and though we're clearly not a couple, Mia is my soul mate. She is one of my favourite people in the w orld and I often feel like I couldn't get through the hard times without her. And of course elephants march. The full story behind the necklace and it's creation can be found on Alexandra's blog . It is also my mother's birthday. I wrote at length about my mum in the post Moth...
Power. After a year’s unintended break, I am drawn back to The Year of Celebration . Today, on my late father’s birthday, I pored through emails, articles, photographs, essays, newspaper clippings and videos. I feasted on his life. The portion I spent with him and the portion before me. I don’t reserve that purely for his birthday of course, but on March 4 th I always celebrate him, because often I just can’t. Sometimes, even now, the pain is too great and to remember him is to remember that he’s gone. And when I lost him, I did everything I could to lose myself. I learn ed many things from my dad. He was my greatest teacher, both in life and in death. His life story rivalled the best of any Shakespearean drama, but if I could condense it into one soundbite, his birthday sums it up: March Forth. It’s not just a date in the calendar, it’s a direction – to do something, to go somewhere. My grief and depression following his death was the launch pad for The Year of Celebration...
I didn't have to look anything up to know what to celebrate today. I am celebrating my mother, Isabella. Although I'm currently living in LA and Mum is living in Bermuda, we have always celebrated the English Mother's Day date, correctly known as Mothering Sunday. Mum was born in Malaysia and moved to England for boarding school at the age of 9, later followed by her parents and brother. She met my father through my cousins' parents (yep, the same ones who inspired the Year of Celebration) who were living in London at the time. My father was living in Bermuda, and he and my mother would meet in New York. 10 months later they were married and then came the three girls: Nadia, Liana and Claudia. As my father was the renowned lawyer in the family, most people don't know that not only did she study law herself, but it was actually my mother who encouraged me to both apply for and complete my law degree. As a result my father, my mother and I all studied Law at the Unive...
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