New Light, iTi Conference, Mila and Mum

A very nice day today! I attended the big iTi CETA annual conference for Cambridge tutors and assessors and this year it was online. It was organised by iTi, which is in Istanbul and had some excellent talks and workshops by people from all over the world. Because of the time differences and to accommodate different places as much as possible, it started for me at 2pm and ran till 10pm. I hopped in and out of sessions, seeing familiar faces, saying hello, learning new things, getting confirmation that what I’m doing online myself is ok and it almost felt like being at a conference. A friend and colleague in Barcelona, who I usually work with in August and September, was attending too and so we attended quite a few of the same sessions, Whatsapping each other during the day. I didn’t go to the 9-10pm session!

The other big thing that happened this morning was that I met a friend in the flesh for coffee on a terrace!! The first time I’ve met anyone in the flesh since the end of February! Mila texted in the morning to say she felt like going for a walk and if I was free she could walk to our area (an hour's walk from where they live) and so we met from 11.30 till just before 2pm. So lovely to see her and comforting to know that we were able to just pick up and chat normally. I felt that my Spanish was a bit rusty but it was good to be speaking in Spanish again and our conversation hopped from meditating mice to shingles to cooking to old photos to life changes. Our friendship spans almost 30 years and is a very valued one.

We had a pizza for dinner around the corner to finish off the day.

I got my blip in our bedroom this morning. It's the time of year when I notice that the light is changing and the sun is hitting different parts of the house at unexpected times.

It's 18 years today since our mum passed away. My brother busboy and I texted each other and she was in my thoughts on and off all day. The loss doesn't leave you, it just gets a bit lighter and less painful to carry and leaves more room to remember the love. Tomorrow will be a quieter day for me and I’ll have more time to think about her and will have a quiet cup of tea with my thoughts.