This blog post is one that I never expected to be writing and at times the situation still seems unreal.
Those of you who have been following my blog may remember that in December I posted "The best laid plans" telling you how my Mum-in-Law had taken a tumble which resulted in a fractured hip. Well, after many weeks in hospital and a stay with us she finally made it back to her flat in Rhos on Sea. All was going well, there were a few health issues which we were managing to cope with, but everything was ticking along nicely. That is until I received a phone call on 19th May from her warden to say that she had just passed away quite peacefully, but unexpectedly, in her chair. I'll never forget the phone call I then had to make to David who was hundreds of miles away and not due home till the next day. This was then followed by an agonising wait of a few hours when I just seemed to be pacing around the house not knowing what to do and just wishing David would come home so that I could give him a great big hug.
What struck me in the following days as we were going through old photographs and documents that she'd kept, and that we'd never seen before, was firstly, how did she manage to hoard so much stuff, and secondly, what an interesting and exciting life she had before she had David. We only ever knew her as David's Mum yet she'd had this whole other previous life. She'd kept her report card from her time in the Wrens in the 1950s which detailed all her various postings and she'd even kept her copy of the agreement she signed with Ind Coope when she became manager of a hotel in York in the early 1960s. I don't think I've kept copies of my previous work contracts - David's not one for letting us keep things for long!
We knew from various stories she used to tell us that one of the best times of her life was when she was running a hotel in York and because of this she took great delight in following all our plans for Plas y Nant. She'd been up a couple of times to see it and even had tea with Victors in his caravan. It is just a real shame that she never got to see the place finished and up and running.
She was a very practical, down to earth lady, not one for dwelling on things. Her view of life was that sometimes it could be hard but you just had to get on with it. When we found where she'd hidden her Will for safekeeping there was a piece of paper tucked in behind it, on which she'd copied the poem below and I believe she'd put that there for David.
When I am dead
Cry for me a little.
Think of me sometimes
But not too much.
Think of me now and again
As I was in life.
At some moments it's pleasant to recall
But not for long.
Leave me in peace
And I shall leave you in peace
And while you live
Let your thoughts be with the living.
(Morrie's Remembrance Poem)
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