LXXXXVII

[glenatron]

It has, thus far, been an extraordinary weekend.

Yesterday was the wedding of Fiona, one of my oldest and dearest friends, with Matt, one of the very few people I've met who is genuinely good enough for her. It was a beautiful and happy day and we ate, drank and partied through a long afternoon and into the night. Seeing all my old sixth-form friends was as much of a pleasure as always, they are a great bunch of people and like all my friends they deserve far more of my time than I can give them.

Today was my granny's 97th birthday. My granny is one of the most totally lovely people anyone could ever hope to meet- her entire life has been a shining example of how someone can live entirely through kindness, generosity and strength of personality. Everybody who has met her finds her astonishing, admirable and just downright lovely- it's the kind of person she is. For the last couple of years time has been taking it's toll, leaving her confused at times and making her anecdotes somewhat baffling as characters, events and locations from the last ten decades got arbitrarily mixed up, but she has continued to live independantly in her own house with support from family and friends. A few weeks ago, her doctor realised that her heart is starting to fail and over the last few days her condition has declined rapidly- she is now effectively bedbound and very confused indeed. In spite of this she seemed very happy to have her family all come to visit for a birthday lunch today and to make a fuss of her and make sure she knows that she is the best granny anyone could wish for. She seemed happy in the times she knew we were there at least and it was good to have a last chance to have everyone together with her.

Comments

[stu-the-elder.livejournal.com]

Your weekend seems to have been brilliant!

It's a pity you're not in Caerphilly today though.. as me and Hugo are going to get our hands on siege weaponry.

- Crump

[ciderclaus.livejournal.com]

I really know what you mean. The elder of my younger brothers and I spent a day with my grandmother, before she unexpectedly died of a heart attack three days later and I can honestly say it is one of my most treasured memories and certainly gets me through the sadness I feel all these years later.