The Switch

by Beth O'Leary

and remind myself for the hundredth time how important it is to support other women in business. I really, fully believe that. It’s a code I live by, and it’s how I plan to make it to the top. But women are still, you know, people. And some people are just awful.

I’m rather worn out, and it’s an awful lot easier to be independent when there’s somebody else there with you.

‘forthright’ is what they say now that they’re not allowed to call women bossy.”

But Mum couldn’t be my shoulder to cry on, not when she was bent double with grief herself. That’s the messy thing about family tragedy, I guess. Your best support network goes under in an instant.

Moving forward is my forte; it’s standing still I’m not so good at.

Family can be so complicated, but if you just pick your own way of doing it you can end up with something pretty perfect all the same.

I gave Aurora and Rupert a cactus as their goodbye present; Aurora was ecstatic. Really, that woman thinks anything shaped even vaguely like a penis is a work of art.

She pulls me in for a hug, and then, in my ear, she says, “If you’re holding someone close enough, you can be the shoulder and the crier. See?”