Tears, for sure. But you can move us without making us feel our heads are being messed with. And the rhythms of your sentences and paragraphs are perfect. These rare things make you a writer, which is much more than simply someone with something touching or compelling to narrate.
just a bit of pollen in my eyes - and a long ago memory of my firstborn in NICU, he's now a big strong man. May your memories become easier as your beautiful boy becomes a big strong man too.
This is a bit surreal. I read this beautiful story yesterday and took a moment to be thankful that I had never had a child sick enough to be hospitalized...... Today I find myself very unexpectedly waking up on ward one. Interested to see if I take to Milo in the next few days. ❤️
Cool, so now I’m crying in a coffee shop. I can’t drink milo (coeliac and it has wheat in it) but I have similar feelings about hospital/church tea, brewed in those big pots and served in arcoroc mugs. So beautiful, Em. Thanks for sharing xx
Beautiful writing Emily. Milo is the drink of the junior night doctors also… different reasons but from the same hospital supply tins, in the same chipped cups, with a lack of teaspoons in the same small hours of the morning waiting for the sun to rise.
So beautiful. So glad I recently became a paid subscriber - you're an amazing writer.
Though it's a totally different tone, it reminded me of reading Michelle Obama's new book The Light We Carry. In the chapter on parenting, she shares a story of the night she hit a wall & told her little kids she quit as their mum, and the two very different reactions of her 4 & 7 year old kids. (p206-212 if you want to just read this one funny story, though the whole book is a bit like a hug from a friend.)
For her and you, it takes a lot of courage to be so honest about the hard, lonely parts of parenting, and skill to tell those stories as movingly as you have Emily.
Look at the connection you build between strangers, strung together with your words.
Damn you Emily, I didn’t have plans to cry about Milo today
Tears, for sure. But you can move us without making us feel our heads are being messed with. And the rhythms of your sentences and paragraphs are perfect. These rare things make you a writer, which is much more than simply someone with something touching or compelling to narrate.
That’s so kind of you Janet. It really means a lot.
The content warning didn't apply to be but oh god my heart
On an equally distressing note, I used to eat dry Milo because my parents refused to buy us biscuits and sweets
Crying. You are amazing.
just a bit of pollen in my eyes - and a long ago memory of my firstborn in NICU, he's now a big strong man. May your memories become easier as your beautiful boy becomes a big strong man too.
I thought I wasn't going to cry - I almost made it but the final sentence got me 😭❤️
This is a bit surreal. I read this beautiful story yesterday and took a moment to be thankful that I had never had a child sick enough to be hospitalized...... Today I find myself very unexpectedly waking up on ward one. Interested to see if I take to Milo in the next few days. ❤️
Oh Sophie I’m sorry. Is there anything you need?
Thanks for the offer. A lot of people we know are off work at the moment, so we have everything we need for now. It should only be a couple of days.
Yup - the only time I drink Milo is in the Hutt Hospital Children's Ward family room.
Oh, NICU milo, that’s right.
No words really. Very moved.
Just beautiful.
Another crier over here. ☕️
Beautifully written and heartfelt. I’ve drunk a lot of hospital Milo on late nights but never thought of it in this way before
Cool, so now I’m crying in a coffee shop. I can’t drink milo (coeliac and it has wheat in it) but I have similar feelings about hospital/church tea, brewed in those big pots and served in arcoroc mugs. So beautiful, Em. Thanks for sharing xx
Beautiful writing Emily. Milo is the drink of the junior night doctors also… different reasons but from the same hospital supply tins, in the same chipped cups, with a lack of teaspoons in the same small hours of the morning waiting for the sun to rise.
So beautiful. So glad I recently became a paid subscriber - you're an amazing writer.
Though it's a totally different tone, it reminded me of reading Michelle Obama's new book The Light We Carry. In the chapter on parenting, she shares a story of the night she hit a wall & told her little kids she quit as their mum, and the two very different reactions of her 4 & 7 year old kids. (p206-212 if you want to just read this one funny story, though the whole book is a bit like a hug from a friend.)
For her and you, it takes a lot of courage to be so honest about the hard, lonely parts of parenting, and skill to tell those stories as movingly as you have Emily.
Look at the connection you build between strangers, strung together with your words.