2007 - A Sad Homecoming
The phone call everyone dreads, telling of the loss of a family member. This happened to me on June 23rd, 2007, when my niece Maggie, called to tell me my brother John in South Africa had died suddenly at home from an ruptured aorta. The blessing was that he was with his beloved Betty and did not suffer. An unbelievable shock, especially in the light of the holiday I was planning to take a month later to South Africa. John had all the plans laid out to show me around the areas where I was born and where the family had lived. Instead, it was finding a flight to London, then on to Capetown. British Airways are very compassionate in these circumstances and I was able to leave almost immediately. 9 years later, it is still difficult to comprehend his loss, and he is missed so much by us all.