Gone Away
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL SISTER, ALEX.
The best sister a girl could hope for…
It’s really strange when someone you love dies. Because there are all the trappings of their life that don’t die with them - all the things surrounding them that made up their existence. But without the person, they are just meaningless objects. The clothes that they wore, the photos from their dresser, their bedsheets. All these things are hollow without a person to wear/look at/sleep in them. And your mind doesn’t just automatically accept that this person is gone. You still wake up in the morning and think “I should go and visit” or “I think this person would like to hear this”. The cycle of life just really sucks sometimes, even when it is inevitable.
My beloved Nana died a couple of weeks ago. Many of you know how much she meant to me and how much I have been dreading this moment. When I left Australia in February, I suspected I was saying goodbye to her for the last time, but I didn’t think she would be gone three weeks later. Despite all the platitudes, “she was ready to go,” “she has lived a good life,” “she is reunited with Poppa,” I still miss her like crazy.
Those of you lucky enough to have met Nana know what a wonderful person she was. I truly don’t think a kinder person ever walked the earth - almost too kind for her own good, at times!! I feel incredibly lucky to have had her patient, gentle countenance as an example for the last 29 years and I can still hear her soft voice in my head.
I went home for the funeral and was glad to be with my family. My good friend Kerin was on my plane from Dubai to Melbourne (she had come from Mozambique) and upon seeing me, commented “well, this can’t be good, three and a half weeks after you left!” But it was great to have her support and someone to play with during the Singapore stopover.
It was also good to be with my family for the funeral, and to give and receive support. It is a little strange that there is now nobody of that generation in my family any more - no grandparents (although having all four until one week before my seventeenth birthday makes me pretty lucky, I know) mean no more of those memories - I think it has re-motivated my Dad and his siblings to work on the family history!!
Anyway - I returned to Kampala on Good Friday and had Easter here in the city. I apologise for the delay in posting, and hope to rectify it now with more regular updates.
The best sister a girl could hope for…
It’s really strange when someone you love dies. Because there are all the trappings of their life that don’t die with them - all the things surrounding them that made up their existence. But without the person, they are just meaningless objects. The clothes that they wore, the photos from their dresser, their bedsheets. All these things are hollow without a person to wear/look at/sleep in them. And your mind doesn’t just automatically accept that this person is gone. You still wake up in the morning and think “I should go and visit” or “I think this person would like to hear this”. The cycle of life just really sucks sometimes, even when it is inevitable.
My beloved Nana died a couple of weeks ago. Many of you know how much she meant to me and how much I have been dreading this moment. When I left Australia in February, I suspected I was saying goodbye to her for the last time, but I didn’t think she would be gone three weeks later. Despite all the platitudes, “she was ready to go,” “she has lived a good life,” “she is reunited with Poppa,” I still miss her like crazy.
Those of you lucky enough to have met Nana know what a wonderful person she was. I truly don’t think a kinder person ever walked the earth - almost too kind for her own good, at times!! I feel incredibly lucky to have had her patient, gentle countenance as an example for the last 29 years and I can still hear her soft voice in my head.
I went home for the funeral and was glad to be with my family. My good friend Kerin was on my plane from Dubai to Melbourne (she had come from Mozambique) and upon seeing me, commented “well, this can’t be good, three and a half weeks after you left!” But it was great to have her support and someone to play with during the Singapore stopover.
It was also good to be with my family for the funeral, and to give and receive support. It is a little strange that there is now nobody of that generation in my family any more - no grandparents (although having all four until one week before my seventeenth birthday makes me pretty lucky, I know) mean no more of those memories - I think it has re-motivated my Dad and his siblings to work on the family history!!
Anyway - I returned to Kampala on Good Friday and had Easter here in the city. I apologise for the delay in posting, and hope to rectify it now with more regular updates.