One Last Visit

Our family said goodbye to Uncle Harry today, Friday 12th June.  He was Mum's brother-in-law, married to her sister Ruth who passed away 18 months ago.  Their marriage had been as close and loving as that of my own parents, and Uncle Harry missed Auntie Ruth terribly for that year and a half.

I learnt that Uncle had been a gifted musician in his youth,  and also a little about his service in Burma during World War Two.  So terrible had conditions been there that his health was very badly affected.

After the funeral service, we went back for one last time to the house where Auntie and Uncle had lived for over 50 years and which I can remember visiting as a child.  In my blipfoto are all the cousins from Mum's side of the family standing together in the garden - Roy, Allan, me, Jennie (Auntie Ruth and Uncle Harry's daughter), Susan (my sister) and Julia.  Sadly, two cousins are missing from this photograph - Roy and Julia's older sister Linda and my sister Kaye.  Linda died of cancer in the 1980's and Kaye was killed in a road accident seventeen years ago.  They were both very much in our thoughts and conversation at Uncle Harry's wake.  Mum was also absent from the funeral, as she didn't feel up to the journey and the long day.

We spent several hours together reminiscing about our childhoods and catching up on news, and then it was time to say farewell to my lovely cousins and family for a while, and goodbye to another part of our lives forever.