Last night I went to see a double-feature of Wicked and Wicked: For Good. I absolutely love musical theatre generally and also I love film versions of musicals. I was so excited to see Wicked last year and I’ve been looking forward to the second part ever since.

I kind of knew that most of the really good songs were in the first part but there is still For Good in the second. And I knew it would be emotional. And it was.

I cried all the way through the second half of the film and I cried through For Good. I was in the car on the way home after it and I was still crying.

And I think what hit me the hardest when watching that part of the film and also hearing the lyrics to For Good that I was thinking about loss.

I was thinking about the people that have had the biggest impact on me and on my life and how a lot of those people aren’t in my life anymore or that they aren’t in my life in the same way. And I just felt so much grief in that moment.

My dad. My ex husband. My ex. My best friend. Even the English teacher. The soldier. My favourite teacher from Year 2, the relationship I used to have with my mother-in-law.

There’s loss and pain there but there’s also gratitude.

Who can say I’ve been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

I have been changed for good