Sun and Sorrow

We had a beautiful 2 day stay with my Aunt and Uncle at Barwon Heads, where we discovered the wonderful surf beach at Ocean Grove, possibly the best beach for boogie-boarding ever.  The kids' faces as they caught those long waves all the way to shore were a perfect picture of happiness and exhilaration.

Tomorrow morning we are heading off for the much-anticipated Mothers Group holiday in Rosebud.  Jenny, Astrid and I and all the husbands and chillun, in one big house by a beach.  It will be awesome.

And in between and indeed across these two idylls, is my pain at losing my friend Mavis, who has only days to live.  She has fought breast cancer for 5 years now, but at Christmas time, the secondary cancers, which had been mostly in control, suddenly turned feral and in the blink of an eye there was nothing anyone could do anymore.  Mavis has two children, boys the exact same age as mine, and the eldest one is Climber's best friend.  The boys have been on holiday with their father (the one who left her this year when she was having chemo): they came home today to an empty house and the news that Mummy was in the hospice, and when they asked the inevitable question they were told the terrible truth.  So the next few days will be a saying of goodbyes for her family.  The rest of us, knowing that she is in too much pain and too wretched about saying goodbye to her children to cope with anything more than this, are putting our farewells into writing and waiting for the news.