Wasted Time

What a year!! it's been full on action packed, emotional, annoying, funny, frustrating.. It's been life.
It's coming up to the end of the year, and right near the end I have had four losses of wonderful human life. Four people that really knew how to live. I know many of us think we know how to do this, but it's not easy. Three of my losses are people who were in their 70's and 80's. Teresa Costello was my neighbour. She welcomed me with open arms and doors when I moved into her street six years ago. The wonderful Mr Reid (father of Mark), he fought until he couldn't fight no more. Victoria Gunn who was always so active and full of energy, she even started driving in her 60's.

The most recent being Dionne Lynch. I spoke to her a few weeks ago about her party she was planning in January and the points we were up to in our lives. That chat was long overdue and the next time I was seeing her was after christmas but before her party. When the news came through on that Sunday night that she had died, my first reaction was anger. I haven't felt like that around death in a long time but I knew that she still wanted to do so much more. I knew she wanted to see her daughter do so much more. I'm laughing a little to myself as I write this because I can almost hear her saying; 'What do you mean go.. Go where? I'm not ready to go anywhere yet'.

The amount of times I hear people say 'That's it, I'm going to live my life differently, grab every moment because you never know'. It's not long before they slip back into their old ways. I have always been annoyed by that to be honest, It's not that hard to make conscious changes and stick with at least some of them. At this time of year we all make decisions to get the perfect present for our friends and family, look at how much it will be, concentrate on getting the money, then buying it.
When can we begin to do this with our parts of our lives?
That was one of the things I liked about Dionne. She wouldn't just say, she would do. She was like that right to the end.
I have pure admiration for the strength that Dionne had despite being unwell. I'll miss her very much.
My love and thoughts are with the entire Lynch family.

I dedicate this blog to Teresa Costello, Mr Reid, and Victoria Gunn.