Every new beginning

{New blip.. Jenn, Reuben's nurse for nearly 4 years, and now client}

Today is a hugely momentous day. My sister Geraldine and BIL Mark have had their first baby boy by c-section, that being a last minute thing. I'm in awe of the gorgeous photos coming through from Mark's phone. I can't wait to be back in late July along with Callum. I so want him to have the experience of getting to know his cousin, just as Reuben experienced getting to know the new baby, Callum.

I think the magnitude of Geraldine, my wee baby sister being a mum is going to have to settle into my head.

If baby James is anything like Geraldine and Mark, he will be a fantastic cook, a lover of good beer and country cider, an accomplished horseman in dressage, a passionate flamenco guitarist, a kind and creative soul, an incredible husband, best friend and one of life's general good guys. I just can't wait to meet him and see my sister and brother, both two of the closest people in my life, in their parental element.

It is also the day of my friend Crystal's passing. She has been battling melanoma and recently brain cancer and has been on hospice. Crystal has been a lifeline to me and hundreds more families in the CHARGE Syndrome community. She has been a walking angel amongst us. I hope her legacy will be that we will collectively continue the good work she has started, the families she has supported, the courage she has shown and her endless selflessness. It's bitterly painful to envisage her daughter's life without her tireless fight for everything to give her the best opportunities in life. She leaves a loving husband, her beloved boys and her daughter. May God give them strength.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end".