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Spiritual reflection to start the day with writer and broadcaster, Anna Magnusson

Good morning.

Recently I went on holiday to Spain with my two sisters. Just a long weekend away for a bit of sun.

There was some sun, but that wasn’t the heart of the trip: the best thing was just being with each other. It’s a very long time since we went away together, just the three of us – so long ago, that I was only 17. Back then, we drove around Scotland in a wee car, and stayed in youth hostels and the occasional bed and breakfast. Up the east coast to the north, over the sea to Orkney, back to the mainland and down the west coast.

I’ve forgotten huge swathes of that trip, but in the magical ways of memory, I can also clearly see us in that car, talking, laughing, squabbling over directions, arguing about when to stop for food. I vividly remember a particular night at a youth hostel, when one sister marched off with a blanket and pillow to sleep in the bathroom, because, she said, my snoring was unbearable.

It's all still there in the memory bank – but more than that, it’s in my heart: so embedded that I was replaying the images and feelings of that Scottish trip as we were driving around in Spain. And, as before, from my place in the back seat.

We’re deep in middle-age and beyond now, we three sisters who were once young. And yet, to each other, we haven’t changed. The essence of each of us is exactly what it always was. The years have never changed that. Best of all, we’re still precious to each other. Even though I still snore.

This morning I give thanks for the people we love, and for the good memories we keep close, and hope we’ll never forget. Amen.