I’m not talking about making the same mistakes over again. I’m thinking about someone else doing the things you used to do, but maybe doing them better.

Take my daughter as an example. She bakes cakes the way I used to, but often adds her own twist to it. She also started playing the viola I had given up on. My son plays the piano with pizzazz when I always stuck religiously to the exact notes on the page. Funnily enough, those things do not bother me. They actually delight me.

In my plant school outside, I have been watching a cherry tree turn from autumnal shades to a glorious pink. There is something about both that is good.

So if somebody else has taken up the baton for you, don’t feel bereft; embrace the change. And look for something new that you can take up instead. I often grieve for the things I have lost. But, the important question is, what have I gained?

If you feel you have been replaced, remember about that pink blossom. As it says in Ecclesiastes 3,1, ‘there is a time for everything’. What is waiting in the wings for you now? A wealth of gifts you had forgotten you had, or something radically new?