February is the shortest month of the year and yet it always feels like the longest. I’m happy to be writing this post now because it means that it’s finally over and I survived. February holds a lot of sad thoughts and feelings for me – some years I seem to get through it all without too much impact, and other times the memories crowd my mind and heart like a rush hour commuter crush on a train platform, all jostling for space.
Other things have been competing for my attention this year – work has been ridiculously busy and there have been a lot of logistics and schedules to navigate for the girls too – so that has helped. I’m grateful for that.
Here’s a little bit of life lately, in February…
BOOKS
At the start of the month I finished My Friends by Fredrik Backman and it was just wonderful. So wonderful that I felt almost sad to finish it – I wanted it to continue so I could stay immersed in that world. My copy now proudly holds a quite frankly ridiculous number of turned down corners & underlined sentences and I know it’ll be a book I can return to and re-read many times over, with new things to be found within it’s pages each and every time. It contains a huge amount of deep wisdom and so many profoundly meaningful insights within every chapter. It’s a beautifully woven story with themes of friendship, grief, love, art and loyalty at it’s core – the interconnectedness of all of the different threads is seamless. Most important of all? It felt honest. And real. It didn’t feel like a made-up story, it felt like the author was telling his truth. Please read it.
I gave myself a couple of days to recover emotionally, then picked up All The Way To The River by Elizabeth Gilbert. I’m going to see her speak in person in London early next month so I wanted to make sure I had time to read it before the event. I saw her speak a couple of years ago too and she blew me away – it was such an inspiring, thought-provoking talk and I have every confidence that this one will have a similar impact. Her books are no different – she has a way of writing that feels like she’s talking directly to you personally. She doesn’t hold back – every page contains hard-earned, difficult lessons that I underline in the hope that they’ll stick in my brain (and heart) too. This book (a memoir) is about addiction and grief and love in all of it’s messy, ugly, complex truth. It’s raw and unapologetic – challenging & heart-breaking to read in some places and beautiful & heart-warming in others. She articulates things so clearly, and yet there is never any judgment or offering of advice in any way – she simply shares her experience openly and honestly, acknowledging that we are all fellow strugglers, and allows you to receive what you need.
‘All The Way To The River’ by Elizabeth Gilbert
TV & THEATRE
Lola’s main Christmas gift was tickets to go and see Hamilton in London’s West End. I deliberately booked it for during February half term so she wouldn’t have too long to wait, and so we could make a full day of it. She’s been obsessed with Hamilton for the best part of a year now (thanks to the influence of both of her sisters, who have both already seen it) and was beside herself with excitement in the lead up to the day we went. Thankfully, it exceeded all of her expectations. And mine! I’ve seen it before but because I know the songs and the story so much better this time around it took the experience to a whole other level. ‘Wait For It’ will forever be a favourite song – I cried, which was unexpected. Lola LOVED it – it was a phenomenal performance and production.
We also saw Big Ben, the Houses Of Parliament at Westminster, and the London Eye – a first for her – all lit up at night as we made our way back to the train station to come home again.
Outside the theatre before the show started – look how excited she is!
Here we go!
The final bow…
London lit up at night
Late to the party as usual, but I finally managed to watch the final four episodes of Stranger Things Season 5! I’m very impressed that I managed to completely avoid all spoilers as well so I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. It was incredible – I barely breathed and my heart was in my throat for the whole of the final episode. I’m undecided how I feel about the ending though. There are a couple of loops that don’t feel fully closed for me, although overall most things were explained and the majority of the stories came to completion. An excellent show and I felt kind of sad when it was all over – with a production like that you become so familiar with the characters and the storylines that there’s almost a sense of loss when it’s finished. I’ve no idea what to watch next to follow on from it!
LIFE LATELY…
February was a month stuffed full of exams – three long weeks of GCSE Mocks for Lola, with half term sandwiched in the middle. It’s her last set of practice ones before the real exams begin in May and now that she’s realised just how much revision is going to be needed she’s been making a lot of effort and putting in the work.
Mimi has had offers back from all five of the universities she applied to (including one ‘unconditional’ offer) – we’re all so proud of her. As a result, we’ve started attending the Offer Holder Visit Days for each of them now – Worcester and York were this month. It’s been full on, but fun, and we got to spend plenty of time with Ella when we were in York for the weekend too. She showed us around her uni campuses and took us shopping in the city. We hadn’t seen her since New Year and those eight weeks had felt very long. I still miss her and occasionally forget that she’s not here and accidentally go into her room to say goodnight to her.
My beautiful girls, in York
Finally, I honoured my promise to myself to write one article a month on Substack. For February, I wrote about grief. Not the easiest topic to write about, or read, but an essential one. This one is personal – you can find it here. (And please do subscribe – it’s free! 🙂 )
Chapter two of 2026 is now closed and March is already looking busy for all of us. The year seems to be zooming by already and, as much as I wish the months would slow down a little, at the same time I honestly can’t wait for Spring to arrive – I’m desperately in need of sunshine and new leaves beginning to unfurl. I hope that you found plenty of little things to love throughout February and that next month holds lots of moments you want to remember.
With love,
Chloe x
