Serial Griever: Hopeful Places

Over the break, I took advantage of time away from a hectic university schedule to reflect on the past semester. As I am sure you know, time runs away from us in St Andrews — before you know it you’ve spent a whole month bouncing between library, lecture, Aikman’s, and bed. I often find that I don’t have the space to think about my experiences until the dust settles. In this flux, I began thinking about Serial Griever and what I had intended for it to become. Many of its goals, collaboration and open honest grief chat, have been met, but one thing I haven’t yet spoken of are the tangible support resources that have shaped my St Andrews routine.

Last week I returned to the Maggie’s Centre in Dundee for the first time in months. If you haven’t heard of this little safe haven, it sits at Ninewells Hospital and functions as a ‘home away from home’ for those undergoing cancer treatment and their families. There’s a kitchen, kettle, copious teabags, bookshelves, couches, and gardens. Maggie’s takes great pride in its buildings and landscaping, seeking to push art and safety into every corner.

Co-founder Charles Jencks believed in and wrote about ‘The Architecture of Hope,’ publishing three editions in his lifetime. The Dundee Centre was designed by architect Frank Gehry, whose work includes the Foundation Louis Vuitton and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. His Dundonian design follows his typical deconstructivist style, while embedding inspiration from traditional Scottish butt-n’-bend housing. On the Maggie's website, Gehry explains his personal ambition behind the design: “I really hope that in some small way it might contribute to a sense of rejuvenated vigour for moving forward and living life.”

Driving up the hill, the white curved walls and zigzag roof emerge, and a sense of calm washes over me. I feel just that bit safer. I have visited once every month for the last two years to speak with the resident counsellor; a quiet pilgrimage, whose place in my heart and head, I realise only as I near the end of my time in St Andrews. Maggie’s has supported my entire family, especially my mother, through so many stages of a cancer journey and continues to do so with no fixed end date.

This is what I think that Maggie’s does best. From first contact, you are always welcome. Someone will always pop the kettle on, and there will always be a space for you.

To find out more, please visit their website, www.maggies.org

Image from Wikimedia Commons