Aftermath
In June 2023 Marianna gave birth to our second child. We became four. We’d planned Simone’s coming, talked about it rationally and decided we wanted a second child. For our eldest, Frieda, she would have a sister, and for Marianna and I we would have the chance to do it all again. To fall in love again.
Yet there was nothing rational about our choice. We went with our hearts. Rationally, having children in 2023 presents a moral and ethical question like no other. Many would be parents are deciding to forego a family in the face of climate collapse.
When Simone arrived we wrapped ourselves in our cocoon, snuggled in and surrendered, expecting the world to fall away. We planned our summer and beyond, promising to visit grandparents in Athens in September. Yet on the 18th July the pine cones on the branches of the trees in the forests surounding Loutraki popped and fizzed as Greece battled some of the largest wildfires ever recorded. Regular daily temperatures above 40 degrees centigrade and fierce winds fanned the flames of hundreds of fires across the country. Athens clogged with smoke and firefighters from across the European Union weighed in to try and get them under control.
From our cocoon, swaddled in the smells of newborn skin and softened by sleepless nights, we looked on. And as we looked on she changed everyday, sleeping, feeding and growing and stretching her legs. And we looked on and the fires spread in our hearts as they spread through the trees.
In late August the forests of Mt Parnitha, the lungs of Athens, caught fire. Huge plumes of smoke and flame lit the sky as the precious woodlands burned. Again we looked on from afar. The summer slowed and cooled and we emerged, uncurled and walked through the aftermath.
Sheffield, UK and Athens, Greece.
Summer / Autumn 2023
