Dearest DEPARTED

Michèle reflects on the second anniversary of the loss of her friend Cal Wilson

- MICHÈLE A'COURT Musings from our favourite Kiwi funnywoman

Grief is a deeply personal thing and different for everyone, but it's also a thing we process together.

The second weekend in October marked two years since we lost Cal Wilson. It's impossible to absorb that it has been this long or that she has gone at all.

Just 56 years old, beloved on both sides of the Tasman as a comedian, improviser, writer, radio and television host, Cal died suddenly in October 2023. I still can't write that without crying.

We started out in comedy together in the 1990s. There's a photo I love of Jeremy and me taken at Cal's house 26 years ago – a candid snap in the sense we didn't know she was taking it and yet artfully framed, perfectly timed, capturing the beginning of this relationship. As well as her gifts as a wordsmith, Cal was a brilliant visual artist.