While I was away on holiday I got a phone call from my mum one morning at 8am telling me my auntie had died. She was dad’s sister and died suddenly from a heart attack at aged 61. It didn’t really distress me because I’ve hardly seen her in my adult life and she didn’t make an effort to contact us and vice versa. But it got me thinking that my dad is four years older than her and it could have been him. That side of the family has a history of high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack and dad is a bit overweight and loves his beer. I used to always think that mum and dad would be around until they were quite old and they might be but this made me think that it isn’t a given.
My auntie’s funeral was yesterday and I think a lot of people go to funerals, not just to pay their last respects but to catch up with old friends and not often seen relatives. Unfortunately just about the only time I see some of my relatives is at these funerals and my cousin mentioned it yesterday and said we should catch up when it’s not just a funeral. I said I’d organise a barbeque some time which I will do maybe around Christmas time. It will be interesting as my sister does not get on with some of my cousins but I’ll invite everyone and it will be up to them to settle their differences or not bother coming.
My uncle mentioned at the funeral that as the last person from the generation up from him died last year he thought there would be a break of about ten years before the next generation started dying but he was wrong. I told him something along the lines of you can’t be sure about that and to make the most of being here. Hopefully it’s got them thinking about their mortality and doing something about keeping themselves on this earth for as long as they want. I certainly don’t want to be going to another relatives funeral any time soon.
