Dearly Loved Family,
First came the news that Beautiful Cousin
Sally Kirkwood Downs had left this Earth on Monday, June 10th in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
And then we learned that Cousin Patricia’s Beloved
Niall McHugh had drawn his last breaths days later on Thursday, June 13th in Ireland.
I immediately resolved to post something to the blog, all
the while holding a romantic image of us all as a human circle, embracing
across the distance and time. I wanted
words filled with love and celebration and family and courage ~ an attempt to
soothe and hold us close ~ which I never found a way to express that even
approximated what I was feeling. My
ambition far exceeded my ability ~ in scope, and also in my desire for words that
were not trite or meaningless. So much for those good intentions.
We Punnett descendants are separated and far-flung in ways that were not foreshadowed
in our close-knit youth, and we are often
immersed in lives that put constraints on our ability to travel to each other. There
are wonderful exceptions like Beej and Don who continue to make a point of
gathering with family on different continents. Mostly, celebrations and losses are marked in physical isolation from one
another, but I believe that, in spirit, we rise above those divides, feeling
abiding love and care for the joys and trials in each other’s lives.
“You can kiss your family and friends goodbye
and put miles between you,
but at the same time, you carry them with you
in your heart, your mind, your stomach
because you do not just live in a world.
A world lives in you.”
Frederick Buechner
Sally entered my life through a photograph of a radiant beauty on Granny’s shelf of family pictures in the morning room at Hope. Auntie Thelma's presence was felt in the Valley for decades after her time on Earth had ended, and she and her children were familiar through the displayed photographs and occasional news. Years later Sally came home to the Valley, but by then I was living off island. Thanks to communication technology, and her lovely Colleen, I actually came to have a few exchanges with her in recent times.
Colleen wrote that Sally was chatting and laughing with her carers minutes before she stopped breathing. What a cheerful thought to hang on to.
Niall, we have known for some half a century! He and Patricia made of their lives together
a sustained love story that bore wonderful fruit and triumphed over adversity. Together they created a home that was
welcoming, joyful, courageous, and fun… and brought inro being two generations
of splendid young people ~ that’s what I always hear from people who know them!
“Niall leaves behind a life filled with beautiful memories,
stirring conversations, joy and endless love.“
taken from
There is a Condolence Book, open for messages until August 13.
I am sad that Sally and Niall are gone from us, sad that we are robbed of the chance to make more memories, but I celebrate that they made rich, enjoyable, good lives, and they leave us full of love and nuff respect.
The following is something I have long meant to put on the blog...
Late Fragment
And did you get
what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you
want?
To call myself
beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the Earth.
Raymond Carver – his epitaph
Big Love to you all. Thank you for You.
Lisbie x
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