After the clocks went forward last weekend and the evenings became just a little lighter,  Spring finally seems to be showing her face, with a glorious show of daffodils and spring flowers in parks and gardens. We even saw some sunshine at the weekend, and many families made the most of the unexpected  bright spell to enjoy time outdoors together for Mother’s Day.

Long dark winter days can sometimes seem interminable and we start to feel brighter days are never coming, but almost without us noticing each day gets a little lighter and those Spring bulbs start to peep through  the cold hard ground and unfurl their petals. The trees begin to bud and fresh green leaves sprout from their branches, baby lambs appear in the fields and the seasons work their annual magic as we emerge from the cold clutches of winter.

Grief can be just like the seasons, and it can feel like we will never emerge from the hardest times , when everything feels cold and dark. However,  just like no season lasts forever, neither do our feelings – no matter how difficult, how painful or how unimaginably deeply immersed in these feelings we are, things will gradually get a little easier and eventually we will emerge into brighter times again when we have learned to cope with our loss and accept our new reality. Remembering becomes less painful and even something we can do with a smile, and although everyone needs to do this in their own time and it may take longer for some than others, the one thing we can be certain of is that Spring will always come around again.