The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

THE LAST DITCH

A belated thank you note, one year on.

Published by Tom

on

The Last Ditch: 'Mrs Paine' – 1956-2011.

It is the first anniversary of Mrs Paine's death and I won't be blogging today except to say this. Among the unhappy memories of that time is also the recollection of the kindness shown to me and my family by the readers of this blog. Your comments on the linked post touched me. I read and re-read them in the days that followed and marveled at the kindness of (mostly) strangers.

I am not sure I thanked you properly at the time. Everybody says there's nothing they can say to help in the context of such loss, but it's not true. What you said (or more precisely the fact that you wanted to say something) helped.

Thank you.

6 responses to “A belated thank you note, one year on.”

  1. Monstro Avatar
    Monstro

    Hi Tom, I remember reading with great sadness about your loss at the time and cannot believe a year has passed since, all the best.

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  2. JMB Avatar
    JMB

    You included Mrs P and the Misses P so often in your blog and spoke so lovingly of them that we readers felt we knew them well. Consequently we too felt the loss of your wife and their mother.
    May the happy memories of your life together eventually outweigh the sadness of those last months. Take care Tom.

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  3. Moggsy Avatar
    Moggsy

    Time passes. You turn around for a second and a year is gone…
    Being able to remember the fun wacky moments, the tender ones, the things that make you smile.
    Hope you are there where you can do that now.

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  4. David Davis Avatar
    David Davis

    Old chap, time probably does heal: that’s all I could have thought of to say at the time, but it seemed too clinical and rather unemotional. So it seemed better not to, as it would have been the wrong “time” for me to repeat a mere platitude to you. I just hope you are finding out how to live your life with as little sorrow as can be managed, and to think only of the good times you had with Mrs P.

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  5. james higham Avatar
    james higham

    Yes, belated thoughts are with you, Tom.

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  6. Bill Sticker Avatar
    Bill Sticker

    Tom. There is little to say that doesn’t sound trite and insincere to the bereaved. But know this; you will never forget, it will never stop hurting, but you will become able to control your pain after a while.
    Good luck, and move on when you’re good and ready, not before.

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Tom is a retired international lawyer. He was a partner in a City of London law firm and spent almost twenty years abroad serving clients from all over the world.

Returning to London on retirement in 2011, he was dismayed to discover how much liberty had been lost in the UK while he was away.

He’s a classical liberal (libertarian, if you must) who, like his illustrious namesake, considers that

“…government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

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