So, we step over the hypothetical line into a New Year. \u00a0After spending a truly wonderful New Year’s Day with my two Auntie Joans – one, unfortunately in hospital with a broken hip, the other celebrating her 87th birthday with a broken arm – and lots of the Cousins, the Sister, the Brother, the Sister-in-Law and the Nephews I was lulled into a false sense of hope and expectation for 2014, especially after having lost six special people during 2013. \u00a0I say “false” because yesterday it all came crashing down with the news that my lovely friend Martine Doolan had died.<\/p>\n
Martine was a woman who defined vibrant. \u00a0She oozed life. \u00a0She was a very feminine woman; not frail and delicate but earthy and sexy. \u00a0She had the most amazing, throaty, infectious laugh and my last memory of her is the laugh we had on Saturday 21st December, the last day I saw her, when we sat giggling about menopause and what a rotten old bitch Mother Nature could be. \u00a0However, my lasting memories of her will be of her kindness and her integrity. \u00a0Martine was such a giver – she was a real carer of others who saw the good in everyone and who suffered fools gladly. \u00a0She was a born teacher; her patience knew no bounds and she was an extremely talented performer and choreographer. \u00a0She was an acupuncturist and herbalist and was a huge help to me a couple of months back when I was feeling very low. \u00a0She was a woman who wasn’t afraid to stand up and be counted when she knew that something was wrong. \u00a0She walked the walk, she didn’t just talk the talk. \u00a0She had integrity because as she said to me once “I have to be able to live with my conscience.”<\/p>\n
Martine was taken from us far too soon. \u00a0 I have read and re-read the last message she sent me – on New Year’s Eve, wishing me a wonderful year. \u00a0Like so many people, that year will be so much emptier without her in it. \u00a0My sincerest condolences to her family go without saying. \u00a0Last night I had three long conversations with three young men who all knew her very well and who were in absolute shock at what had happened; the sheer raw grief was evident in their voices. \u00a0Facebook has been ablaze with tributes to her.<\/p>\n
I just hope she knew just how much everyone loved her.<\/p>\n
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So, we step over the hypothetical line into a New Year. \u00a0After spending a truly wonderful New Year’s Day with my two Auntie Joans – one, unfortunately in hospital with a broken hip, the other celebrating her 87th birthday with … Continue reading