Sock Free Hideaway

BEATS OF LOVE 

93. Hold Me Now (Extended) by Thompson Twins

I WORE my late father’s wedding ring until 2010, when a swollen finger meant it had to be cut off. 

I gave it to my ex to hold onto while I planned to reshape it into my own wedding band. She pawned it. Though that betrayal should have been the end, I didn't find the strength to leave until I had a profound conversation with my mother’s partner. It remains deeply poignant to me that these two men, my father through his legacy, and my mother’s partner through his support, instrumentally shaped the decision that allowed me to finally move on.

I cannot multitask. If I had to balance everything, SFH would have ended. Its ten-year survival, with only one bad day of online abuse, is entirely thanks to the missus. She accepts my slow pace but is now holding me to my promise to sell records again. I used post-Brexit complications as an excuse to stop. Once that's sorted, we even plan to host occasional club nights.  

Detached from my story, I sometimes look at my life from a distance, needing a reminder of my history. I remember the dark-haired version of me, cradled through anxiety by my mother and kid sister. That grace never faded, outlasting my youth and surviving my mother’s death. Now, backed by my missus’s fierce and unflinching faith, I should be invincible. While men guided me through my opening chapter, it is the women who authored my future. 

Here is to the women in my life, to this fresh new chapter. Let loving start.