Last Thursday I got a call from Mum, Dee was gone.

Just the day before I’d made arrangements with work to spend some time in London. Dee was ill, doctors had given her 6 months to a year to live. I’d arranged to visit next week, spend some time with her…

She’d been ill for a while...being told she was free of cancer and then that it had come back did for her mind what the chemotherapy did for her body. She was in a bad way. But we all thought we’d get a bit more time with her than we did.

Saying goodbye is not really something I wanted to do. Seemed a bit melodramatic, after all, she’s a part of everyone whose life she touched. She will live on in conversations in my mind, she’ll be the voice guiding Oli in his mind, the person hugging Max and Christian in their dreams. She’ll never be forgotten and there won’t be a day pass when she isn’t remembered.

Somewhere close to 100 people gathered yesterday to say goodbye. People I hadn’t seen for twenty, maybe twenty five years braved the rain and the Southend traffic to say farewell.

Last Thursday the world became a smaller place. She was more than just an aunt, she was a friend.

I’m sorry you never got to see Berlin in the snow…