One More Angel in Heaven

Don’t really know how to begin this blog to be honest. Not sure if I should even be writing this, but I don’t care.  At the start of my travels I did place a warning saying that I would always write what my thoughts were at that particular moment. This blog is a change from the others. This one is for my beautiful aunt Anne who lost her very brave fight to cancer and who always followed me on my travels by reading my blogs, sending me emails commenting on my journey around the world and sending me text messages and even Skyping! So Anne, this one is for you. I can’t believe you’re gone, but I’ll blog to you, I suppose publicly, as it’s my way of saying good-bye, being miles away from home.  Others will get to swap stories with each other about you over the next few days, so here’s a bit of mine.

Over the last few years since your illness, it was a pleasure to be able to become closer to you.  Every week on days after work, I always looked forward to getting up to your house, to have long chats and clean that already clean house you had! Driving up that long lane of yours, hoping my wee car never got stuck in the ditch, going into your house to be greeted by the smell of a lovely wood-burn fire. The house was always boiling with your temperature thermometer reaching highs of over 26 degrees and that was sometimes in the middle of summer!!  People would be peeling off the layers of clothing, but you were so snug with the heat and would even add more layers onto yourself.

Of course, doctor’s orders were telling you that you had to rest, not to be over-exerting yourself, taking it easy…but did you listen? Of course not!  A few times I’d drive up to find you out on that half a mile lane of  yours picking up thorns and branches that had dropped from the bushes in the middle of a cold autumnal day, just in case “it would puncture people’s tyres as they drove up the lane.” Other times, I’d be inspecting the carpet closely to see what exactly I was to hoover up, only to find that you’d already done it, but you’d never listen and hated sitting around even when you were in pain.  

Loved our wee chats together – loved hearing the stories of yesteryear, when you were younger with my mum, whereby I was able to go home and quiz her on a few random things. And I thought my mum was an innocent child!! You never forgot anyone’s birthday either, whether they were babies or grown-ups. Cards to most nephews and nieces stop when they are 18 – not you, you kept going and every year there was always a wee card in the post. Even 2 weeks ago for my birthday, up in Marie Curie, you gave my mum some money to put into my bank to buy something. Well, I’ve decided I know what to buy with it.  You always travelled the length and breadth of Northern Ireland with Norman or others to wee coffee shops – you just loved a coffee with a wee bit of pastry or cake on the side. Every time I’d see you, you would inform me of the new place you’d been to and how you rated the coffee. To be honest, I don’t think there was a coffee shop left in the north that you hadn’t been to – you were ready to branch out into the European sector! So I’ll be finding a decent coffee shop somewhere here in Sydney, and raise a cup and a wee bun to you.  Mum told me today that you have something for me to do when I return home and will only find out then…I look forward to it, whatever it may be.

 ‘School’s out for summer’ will always remind me of you as we both took to the dance-floor on your Wedding Day last year and boogied away to it. You never sat down that day either – up bopping around ‘til the late evening.  You were always a trooper and a brave one at that. You never gave up, you suffered in silence and fought the good fight until the end – no more suffering now. To those closest to Anne, I send my sympathies – you all know who you are – you are in my thoughts.

Maybe one day, we will see each other again.  It hasn’t registered properly yet that you’re gone.  Rest in peace and miss you loads – a wonderful aunt and a good friend.  Thanks for the memories xxx

Anne and me xx



Singing 'School's out for Summer'

Cafe latte



Found a French coffee shop in Sydney - ate a yummy apple turnover!