A death in the family
2 Comments Published by Alexandria on Thursday, January 11, 2007 at 8:36 p.m..
This evening after the dinner dishes had been done and I was enjoying some time online and relaxing after the big presentation this morning I got a phone call, the kind that is never pleasant. It was my mom to say that my great uncle in San Francisco had died after a seven month-long battle with lung cancer.
This was my dad's uncle, his father's brother. But he was like a grandfather to my brother, sister and I. We never knew our dad's parents as they lived far away in Scotland and didn't, well, couldn't, travel. And my mom's dad died just three months before I was born. My great uncle and his wife visited a lot and as a family we went there every few years.
I last saw my great uncle nearly two years ago. It was March and at the funeral of his brother in Montreal.
With the passing of my great uncle, this is also the last real and tangible connection my dad has to his parents, which I know is sad for him. He was able to see his mom several years ago before she died, but he didn't see his dad for the last 20 years of his life, from when he left Scotland and never had the opportunity to go back.
I know my great uncle was in a lot of pain before he died. When I talked to him this past summer on the phone his breath was laboured and his speech was slow, but it was in fact an improvement for him. He was undergoing heavy chemotherapy and radical medication. He was in his eighties and he was very well loved.
I think that is all any of us can ask for in the end: That we were loved by people in this world.
This was my dad's uncle, his father's brother. But he was like a grandfather to my brother, sister and I. We never knew our dad's parents as they lived far away in Scotland and didn't, well, couldn't, travel. And my mom's dad died just three months before I was born. My great uncle and his wife visited a lot and as a family we went there every few years.
I last saw my great uncle nearly two years ago. It was March and at the funeral of his brother in Montreal.
With the passing of my great uncle, this is also the last real and tangible connection my dad has to his parents, which I know is sad for him. He was able to see his mom several years ago before she died, but he didn't see his dad for the last 20 years of his life, from when he left Scotland and never had the opportunity to go back.
I know my great uncle was in a lot of pain before he died. When I talked to him this past summer on the phone his breath was laboured and his speech was slow, but it was in fact an improvement for him. He was undergoing heavy chemotherapy and radical medication. He was in his eighties and he was very well loved.
I think that is all any of us can ask for in the end: That we were loved by people in this world.
Labels: Life
Dear Alexandria,
My simpathy stays with you in this painfull moment.
Hugging you,
Teresa
"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. ~From a headstone in Ireland"
I think that your website is fascinating. I really enjoy it. Fair, not so sugary sweet but honest!