Tuesday 20 December 2016

Let's talk about it

Flowers from my mother's funeral 
 Today I went to the funeral of a close friend. She had a big personality and very definite views on life.  We could talk on the telephone for hours and she never bored me. She was one of those 'seekers after truth' always curious, always willing to discuss and share what she had found out.

Today I saw that the church was full. She had lots of friends.... and a taste for Macedonian folk music (played at her funeral) that I had never suspected. Although she could be blunt, she was extremely generous. Like my mother, she expressed her love through the gifts she gave.

I appreciate her more now that she's gone. She collected beautiful things and her house was magazine perfect. Her taste inspires mine. I'd like to talk to her again on the telephone but I can't. She's gone.

We've all got to go one day. I wish we could talk about death more.It's one of those subjects like 'sex, religion and politics' that is never discussed. We pretend it's not going to happen to us, but it is. I've listened to a very good programme called 'Let's talk about death' led by Joan Bakewell on Radio 4. She takes an unflinching look at exactly what happens to us in the lead up to our deaths and listening to doctors, district nurses and the bereaved talk about it is not half as depressing as you may think.

2 comments:

Brenda Tilbury said...

Sorry that you had a sad day Jenny x I absolutely agree that we should be more open about talking about death, and yesterday was the second anniversary of my Mum leaving us. She wanted to 'go'. Since that day I have found it very easy to talk about the inevitable......x

jenny said...

Thank you Brenda.x