Dear Mum,
It’s been 2 weeks since we last spoke and news of your passing has spread far and wide.
We all mourn our lose but we also celebrate the life you enjoyed to the full - with and without Dad.
Derek and I spent the best of weeks together in the worst of all circumstances and are following your instructions “….to do things properly….”.
We found: photo’s; letters and cards that laid out a rich life well spent – full of laughter, love and joy.
Full of family, full of a cosmopolitan upbringing overseas.
The 100 plus cards, letters and messages of condolence follow the same theme:
“….a lovely lady….caring….always laughing….charismatic….elegant….a true friend….”
Living in a locked down regime was hard for you and I know that your lifetime faith in the Catholic church gave you comfort when you needed it.
You went to the end of your illness and what was possible to endure and the peaceful, pain free passing, was what you had hoped for – and at Dorothy House.
I was there with you at the end, as was Derek “the Unfailing” – the nickname you gave him on one of our Skype calls.
I can add = Derek the first responder – Derek the Social Worker – Derek the Dietician – the Counsellor – The Son.
I thank him for his years of dedication to our Mum’s health and well-being and I promise you I will look after him in the years to come.
In a box in the loft, we found a copy of a Warminster journal from over 10 years ago.
There was a passage written for my Dad’s passing but I am re-writing it for my Mum.
“…. I recall the happiness, no heartache and tears, only what was best and sweetest of the golden years. I remember all the rapture and forget the pain, it is always summer when I walk in memory lane…”
We all miss you Mum and love you – Gary, Catherine, Max and Ella. Derek, Ruth, Jay and Jude, Sam and Beth. Jen, Den and Melanie. Barbara and Graham. Spencer and Barbara.
Together, we will strive everyday - to be more caring, loving and loyal to each other and to everyone – to be more Corrinne.
Thank you Mum for everything. xx
