I haven't posted in such a long time and it's a lovely excuse, this time of year, to look back at the year gone past. I've had many such conversations over the past week with colleagues and clients, where we'd expected it to be a strange sort of year following the previous two years we'd had, yet somehow still it feels strange just how strange it was.

I've also had a very strange end to my year, having been back at work just this week after my first experience of having covid-19. I'm feeling thankful and relieved to be quad-vaxed, that everyone's efforts over the past almost three years has meant that it's taken until now for my family and I to catch it, and that it's now a relatively mild variant. We are all well now and enjoying being out and about again - just in time for summer's festivities! My thanks to everyone in the team of five million, to those making the hard decisions putting in place measures to try to keep us all well and safe from this pandemic, and to all of my clients and workplaces who were all so very understanding and patient - particularly over the past year while I provided music therapy via telehealth. It has been an absolute pleasure being back in person with you all since August, and with some beginnings in new spaces as well. Certainly strange to have not had the usual lead up to xmas with carols and such, but wonderful to have some this week!

This week I've said a very fond farewell to some dear colleagues who I've worked with for ten and seven years. You know who you are, it has been an absolute privilege and pleasure, and I wish you all the very best in your next adventures. These farewells, all of the extremely warm welcomes back in August and in new spaces, and all of the kai, treats and kindness shared this week remind me how important it is to be in spaces and around people who value and support what you do, what you bring and contribute in your work. But also, how a little kindness can go such a very long way. Thank you to you all.

I'm looking forward to next year, more music and more sparks of progress.

Take care over the summer, noho ora mai,
Shari

For most if not all of us it’s hard heading back to work after a holiday break. For me, I returned this year knowing that one of my clients may have passed away. I knew that after 3 weeks the condition of a likely few may have not improved or deteriorated further. What I hadn’t anticipated was just how many, and just how much, and the unexpected. And how it would affect me, first week back. And so, I’ve come away knowing that I need to do something more than speaking with colleagues and with families. I also returned to work knowing that I would soon be finishing with many of my clients and colleagues due to a piece of work ending, and so I face these next few months not yet with the prospect of a fresh new year, but first with many farewells, and many endings.

Within many places I work when we sing the classic “Now is the Hour” I often make the comment, “It holds different things for different people, doesn’t it”? It’s my way of acknowledging the loss the song might hold, the memories of difficult times during war and long after, the people, the experiences, the emotions – both negative and positive. Almost every time this comment is responded to with a murmur, a few nodding heads, a look of significance that seems to say, thank you for acknowledging where I’m at.

Today I share with you this recording of “Now is the Hour” as my way of saying goodbye to those I wasn’t able to in person. I see it as a song of farewell, of acceptance, and of the idea and hope that we’ll be remembered and held in the minds of those we leave behind, whether it’s through a change of circumstances or end of life, whatever your beliefs.