Strawberry Hill

That's the fam at Strawberry Hill in Jamaica in January 2000. I wish the quality of this photo were better, because it's one I really love. And we have so few photos of the four of us together. This is another gem uncovered in our recent purge of stuff. What a year of clearing out and packing up this has been! My mother's house in St. Lucia, my former office, our house, and now, this week, my mom's apartment in preparation for a house sitter, a dear friend. Still, the emotion attached to this most recent task blindsided me. I actually lay in my bed sobbing, the feeling very much like grief, even as I was encouraged to understand that I might release my attachment to my mother's things and focus instead on my mother, who thankfully is still here on the planet with us and very sharp of mind if frail of body. I'm planning to go and spend a week with her at my brother's house in Jamaica this month. This is one of the perks of freelancing, I suppose, although that wolf, money insecurity, hovers at my door.