Loss
My cousin Joanne died last night after having a stroke. She was only 32.
I'm finding it surprisingly hard to deal with, considering we weren't close. I last saw her 18 months ago when Richard, Vanessa and I went to Queensland for Christmas.
I guess it's because she was the only child of my aunt and uncle (Mum's sister and brother-in-law) after they lost their son before I was born. He was only three and drowned following a car accident.
I think normally I would deal with this quite well, but because I'm not that healthy at the moment it's a bit harder. I remember when Joanne visited us when I was a kid. We were selling fruit from the bottom of our driveway and she told us if we threw stones at passing motorists, more of them would stop to buy fruit. They stopped all right, but not to buy fruit. Ha!
I wish I could go to the funeral, but (this sounds lame) that would mean forfeiting hundreds of dollars I've spent on a planned getaway this week. Vantle, Cam, Richard and I are heading to Christchurch on Wednesday. I feel a bit pathetic using that as a reason, but I'd also feel a bit pathetic if I turned up there, like I was hijacking the family's grief or something. I don't know. It's 7:52 in the morning, cut me some slack.
Off to the zoo now. I plan to kidnap a lemur to cheer myself up.
I'm finding it surprisingly hard to deal with, considering we weren't close. I last saw her 18 months ago when Richard, Vanessa and I went to Queensland for Christmas.
I guess it's because she was the only child of my aunt and uncle (Mum's sister and brother-in-law) after they lost their son before I was born. He was only three and drowned following a car accident.
I think normally I would deal with this quite well, but because I'm not that healthy at the moment it's a bit harder. I remember when Joanne visited us when I was a kid. We were selling fruit from the bottom of our driveway and she told us if we threw stones at passing motorists, more of them would stop to buy fruit. They stopped all right, but not to buy fruit. Ha!
I wish I could go to the funeral, but (this sounds lame) that would mean forfeiting hundreds of dollars I've spent on a planned getaway this week. Vantle, Cam, Richard and I are heading to Christchurch on Wednesday. I feel a bit pathetic using that as a reason, but I'd also feel a bit pathetic if I turned up there, like I was hijacking the family's grief or something. I don't know. It's 7:52 in the morning, cut me some slack.
Off to the zoo now. I plan to kidnap a lemur to cheer myself up.