Reflections

Life is a funny thing isn’t it.

It’s something we all take for granted. Something we all know is fragile and short, yet every single one of us, at some point or another hasn’t given life the appreciation it truly deserves.

To be alive is something truly special. Truly amazing, but more often than not it takes something tragic, heartbreaking and often life changing for us to realise just how amazing life really is.

Some people in life are lucky. They’re rich, have no worries, and really do have it all. Others are poor, worry everyday and have nothing. You also have those stuck in the middle, but in truth, no-one is lucky.

We’re all going to die one day.

We’re all going to face an element of death eventually. Whether it be your own death or that of a family member or friend.

When my sister and I were 18 we lost our mum to ovarian cancer. It was awful. We watched her suffer, witnessed her pain and bared the brunt of the impact it had on our family.

Her death was expected, but when it happened, it was still as much a shock, had it have been out of the blue.

Before this we experienced our first death. That was the death of my dads dad. It was sudden and very unexpected. I remember going to his funeral and I vowed that I’d never go to another funeral again. Of course in reality that just isn’t practical.

On the 20th of this month, my sister and I lost our granddad (Grampy). Our mums dad. We didn’t really have a relationship with him. Well, when we were kids we did.

We used to see him and our nanna regularly. When nan passed away, I remember Grampy would visit every Sunday to take my sister and I swimming. We used to look forward to it.

At this time, mum had cancer.

Then one day, Grampy just didn’t come back. My parents fell out with him. We’ll never know the real reason why, but I think it’s such a shame, that their falling out with him, left my sister and I without a granddad.

When we became adults we saw him again, but only a handful of times.

My sister had visited him in his care home a few times, and she’d introduced him to her children. I visited him once when he was hospital, and then the next time I saw him, he was close to passing away. The time after this he passed away, and I went to say my final goodbye.

No-one in life knows what lies ahead. We can’t predict the future, but what we can do is try to have a little more appreciation for life.

One day it will be us.