My aunt Nicola, who had special needs, spent a lot of her time knitting squares. The squares would then be sewn together to make blankets. Many of her squares had little mistakes – a small hole here or there, a big hole sometimes. When that happened, my Nan would unravel the squares and help her to put them right. Nan would do this time and time again, for many years. She never refused to do it, and I never saw her lose patience with my auntie for her little errors. Looking back, I’m sure it was frustrating to have to keep unravelling the work, but still she did it, maybe never giving up hope that my aunt would one day learn from her mistakes.

Today, while I cleaned and tidied, a song came on the radio that reminded me of someone from my past. That thought then spiralled until I, too, found myself unravelling all of the blanket squares of my life.

At first, I thought I’d been left with nothing but old threads, impossible to ever work with again, but I see that what I really have is a chance to knit it all back together into something usable. The thread is still intact and whole; it just needed to unravel so it can be put back together properly. My Nan has taught me that with time and a lot of patience, I can do it. As long as I’m prepared to keep unravelling, re-knitting, and never give up hope.