JIM O'SHEA
Counselling Service

Breda’s apprehension returned on Saturday, the day Mary

and I were in Dublin. She wrote that she was feeling quite ill

and had ‘a foreboding feeling that something was about to

happen …’

 The next day Breda went to South Harrow to visit my

beloved aunt Nell. She felt depressed and talked to Nell about

Cathal, how poor his school report had been, how she worried

that he was ‘so wild’ and that his dad ‘might come down hard

on him’. Nell urged her to ring home, but Breda felt unable

to do so, feeling that there was ‘something awful after

happening’. She felt very close to her uncle Tom, Mary’s

brother, and ‘for some strange reason’ she wanted to hear his

voice, and so went to his house. Breda noted that ‘our

conversation was mostly about Cathal. Cathal & I were very

close & very alike in ways that only we knew …’

extract from book ‘when a child dies. footsteps of a grieving family. available from Veritas, Amazon, bookshops.

Unusually, perhaps, February was a sunny

month. On Saturday 17th Mary and I decided that

we would spend a day in Dublin, strolling around,

enjoying the crowds, going into the shops, having coffee and

lunch. We took the trip on the bus. It was very enjoyable as

we sped along, and the green fields and the grazing animals

spread out in a never-ending panorama.

 We anticipated a pleasant day. But, as we entered the city

centre my head began to pound. I never suffered from

headaches, but this was totally debilitating. My head was

pounding so much that I was unable to walk very far. We went

into a cafe and sat there for an hour or so having coffee. I

tried to resume our walk down Henry Street, but was unable.

I spent the entire day in cafes, drinking coffee and feeling

unaccountably depressed. I looked forward to the departure

time for the bus, and gradually as we made our way home the

pain eased.