Last April, after years of trying, my husband and I welcomed our first child. Then, two weeks later, my world fell apart when my beloved daddy died suddenly. I tried to be very open about the pain so it couldn’t catch me in the long grass — but grief is masterful. A year on, I feel equal parts so lucky, and so distraught…
Charlene McKenna with her daughter Martha and (right) as a child with her dad. Photo: Mark Condren
“The party’s over.”
Those were the first words Mammy said, at 5.24pm on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, seconds after the speaker phone went dead. The kitchen hung in a kind of suspended silence, broken only by the sound of chairs being pushed back on the linoleum floor. We all stood. We cried as we hugged each other.
#Charlene #McKenna #learn #mother #nurse #baby #spoonfeeding #mother #soup #downstairs #toilet
