I feel that whenever unique people that you know leave this world, people who have made their mark and stuck out of the background of average, conforming life in some way, the people left behind feel that life is a bit less sparkly and more monotone. I certainly do, so the hug was for commiseration with that.
You should if possible not outlive your children, yes.
My cousin died when she was 15 and I was 14 after multiple years of brain cancer and an operation where they said that if the cancer went into remission for 5 years, she was completely healed. It came back in the fourth year, her mother had to take care of her and watch her die by stages another year (of course her father and younger sister did too, but they were more able to leave the house and had more interactions outside of the situation).
We weren’t allowed to visit that last year, she didn’t want us to see her. I was pretty selfish at the time and didn’t think of it much, made a cassette tape with my favourite music – talking about it like a DJ – and then with the last half hour tricked my family into my room for a general conversation and taped that, revealing this to them at the end so they could add greetings. My aunt said she played that a LOT.
I was too selfish to do something similar again, after having successfully done it once, and no one pressured me into doing it (I don’t think that would have worked, it would have come out in my voice). I regret this today, but it’s very much the kind of teenager I was.
When she died they had a public viewing so first we were shown pictures of what she looked like shortly before her death, because she certainly looked nothing like the cousin I had seen last probably two years before.
*hug-in-thought*
Thanks. 🙂 She outlived her son by many years, so I kind of feel like that was more sad.
I feel that whenever unique people that you know leave this world, people who have made their mark and stuck out of the background of average, conforming life in some way, the people left behind feel that life is a bit less sparkly and more monotone. I certainly do, so the hug was for commiseration with that.
You should if possible not outlive your children, yes.
My cousin died when she was 15 and I was 14 after multiple years of brain cancer and an operation where they said that if the cancer went into remission for 5 years, she was completely healed. It came back in the fourth year, her mother had to take care of her and watch her die by stages another year (of course her father and younger sister did too, but they were more able to leave the house and had more interactions outside of the situation).
We weren’t allowed to visit that last year, she didn’t want us to see her. I was pretty selfish at the time and didn’t think of it much, made a cassette tape with my favourite music – talking about it like a DJ – and then with the last half hour tricked my family into my room for a general conversation and taped that, revealing this to them at the end so they could add greetings. My aunt said she played that a LOT.
I was too selfish to do something similar again, after having successfully done it once, and no one pressured me into doing it (I don’t think that would have worked, it would have come out in my voice). I regret this today, but it’s very much the kind of teenager I was.
When she died they had a public viewing so first we were shown pictures of what she looked like shortly before her death, because she certainly looked nothing like the cousin I had seen last probably two years before.
… well. That has become a purge for some reason.
Awww. I’m so sorry. Thank you for talking about her on your blog. She seems like someone I would’ve totally enjoyed.