Aunty-in-Law

Saturday 30th October

Day 192

This morning I leave one dear sister in the company of our father and drive with my other dear sister through twisting country lanes drenched in the edible colours of autumn - russet apples and pears, loquats and plums, pumpkins and butternuts. I can’t help remembering Vermont’s cherry red sugar maples. I loved them - but these towering beech trees with their web of wet black branches, sprinkled with old gold and resting in a deep sea of fallen copper leaves feel familiar, ancient and majestic.

Later, standing in the living room of the house my nephew and his wife are planning to buy, she introduces me to her friend -

‘This is my aunty-in-law.’

I like it - a new way to describe the roles in our expanding family. It makes me feel as warm as a beech tree, rustling my leaves in the sunshine.