Editor’s Welcome: The July/August issue of IMAGE Magazine

As we go to press, Ireland is bracing itself for a heatwave. For obvious reasons, Appropriate Heatwave Dressing isn’t exactly this country’s forte, so we can all use a little help in this department. Fortunately, we’ve found three women who share their tips on dressing appropriately when the mercury rises. Read their insights on page 32.

In case Met Éireann has it wrong (stranger things have happened), and you’re choosing to chase the sun in faraway shores, you might be interested to find out how three of our favourite designers travel in style on page 143. Escapes are an excellent chance to recharge the batteries and reflect on life. A week in the sun and a change of scenery can feel like tonic for the soul.

The only holiday I didn’t enjoy was one I took with my two sisters a few short months after my beloved brother-in-law’s death. We all foolishly thought we could switch off the recurring nightmare of saying goodbye to someone we adored, or that somehow a pitcher of sangria would magically take us away from our gnawing grief. But of course, it didn’t. It made it all worse.

Sitting in a luxury resort with happy families creating precious memories highlighted the ones we’d never share. We became acutely aware of the depth of our sadness, whilst surrounded by joy. By the end of day one, the realisation smacked me in the face: there is no such thing as annual leave from bereavement. And we still had another six days of sun-kissed torture to endure. It seems so obvious now that I don’t know what we were thinking. The only way I can explain our decision to go away in the first place was “grief made us do it”.

Our culture still doesn’t give us the vocabulary to talk about death and dying, nor the tools to properly support the bereaved. The Irish Hospice Foundation is working incredibly hard to change this with their annual End of Life Forum and endless campaigning on the topic, but in the meantime, I wanted to start a conversation of our own. Right here in IMAGE. A conversation that will help you if you are grieving or to help someone you know to process their own loss. As a result, I will be forever grateful to Emily Hourican, Helen Lambe and Laura Kennedy – who share their personal stories so eloquently on page 50.

While theirs are truly heartbreaking tales of loss and love, they share universal elements of hope. The notion of the dead living on in those left behind may sound like a cliché, but their stories prove that we are, in part, the collective products of all those we love.

Until next month,

Rosaleen McMeel,
Editor

@rosaleenmc

The July/August issue of IMAGE Magazine is on sale nationwide from July 3rd.