8 years ago today, she took her last breath.
8 years ago, my Mum, my best friend lost her battle.
We were there by her side, our hearts shattering into a million tiny pieces, so many unfinished conversations, the regrets of words that were never shared.
And yet, in some small way, I shall be thankful that we were given the chance to say goodbye, we were given the chance to share thoughts and memories and say "I love you" from the day that we were told there was nothing more they could do, they said a couple of weeks and it wasn't even that.
I spent every moment I could with her in the last 6 weeks of her time with us, we sat and watched the spring flowers outside grow, the lambs making their first appearance into the fields. On the morning of the day she passed we'd watched a wild deer running through the fields, it had stopped and it appeared to be looking in at us, I still remember that moment as clear as day.
Cancer, you bastard!
You robbed us even of the extra few days they said we'd have, right to the last, you took her away from us.
Her last spoken words will haunt me forever as she woke on that morning and she whispered "I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore." And from there we knew, that this would be the last day that we would share with her, and my heart filled with a pain that no amount of words can or will ever describe.
While in the depths of grief after she passed, I certainly felt as if she'd taken so much with her, as the rawness eases from the loss of someone, when the edges are not so sharp and jagged, you realise that they have left you with so much. Memories, many precious memories and the love that fills the heart. The passing of time can never take that away just as it cannot take the void away that exists.
Her dying took so much away.
There are two songs which just remind me of her so much . . . this first one has such heart-breaking words and yet they are so beautiful and in fact, also make me think of others who have been close to me who I have lost, including my friend who recently died. Because the words are so true there too.
"Every place we ever walked and
Everywhere we talked, I miss you
You never leave my mind
So much of you is left behind"
Everywhere we talked, I miss you
You never leave my mind
So much of you is left behind"
This song also reminds me of my Mum....
"I'll keep a part of you with me
And everywhere I am there you'll be......"
And everywhere I am there you'll be......"
8 years may have passed. Some days it seems like only yesterday, not a day goes passed when something happens I wish I could tell her about.
I miss her. Everyday.
My heart is her home. She will live there forever.