“…And that’s all there is. There isn’t any more. ”
When thinking about how I wanted to start this, the last post on Get Out Gertrude, the thing that kept jumping into my mind was one of my favourite stories when I was young, Madeleine. At the end, the narrator says the line above as Miss Clavel says good night to the girls and it was one of the first lines of the story I knew off by heart.
Knowing that Mum and I share the same faith I think has helped a lot on this journey – I know that even though she isn’t here right now (and believe me, that sucks big time sometimes), her passing away was less of a goodbye and more of a “See You Later”. Two months have gone by now and we have survived – we’ve even had our first family emergency (MD fractured two vertebrae in her back – she is fine but needs to wear a brace for a couple of weeks until the bone knits back together) and we supported each other and got through it. As a lovely girl I met at a baking class told me, having lost her father ten years ago, “It’s always going to suck, but it will get less painful”.
Mum left a legacy that is huge. The information on this blog is so useful to people that find themselves in similar places with cancer diagnoses – whether it be IBC or metastatic breast cancer. I hope to fulfill her dream of editing the content into a book and ensuring that all this useful information endures. Mum was super-organised (like mother, like daughter) and in her will, entrusted me with the legal rights to her intellectual property, including this blog. On that note, if any other bloggers or organisations would like to use information, posts or pictures incorporated in this blog, please contact me via email here.
I appreciate that for some of you, this is the end of the line – you loved Mum and you read her story because her cancer diagnoses and the information that she shared helped you through your own dark times. Please know that you meant the world to her – she loved the fact that she was helping others. Some of you may have been reading because you knew her as a friend and you were interested in the family aspect of her blog. You may be interested to keep following what is going on with our family through my blog, but please don’t feel obligated to do so. Whatever brought you here, thank you so much for your support over the years and, in particular, the last few months. Your words of love from around the world have meant so much.
This is OD, turning off the lights and closing the door.
