I rang her each day for over a year, I begged to come see her but she would not let me near. We laughed with each other often but more often we cried. I wanted to be with with her but her fears this to me denied.I begged her to fight it she told me she was tired I nagged and bullied she said I was fired! Things never got better she lipped from my grasp I tried hard to see her but she still refused so I did as she asked.Then finally the day came and I got the call and at last I got to visit , not that she knew at all. I talked of blue skies and beaches and clouds I did not whisper I told her out loud. She was struggling for breath then I caught her eye in a moment of clarity I told her loved her she flashed at me “no pity!”
Her hands were dirty her nails were lined black her pain and the squalor are the memories that keep coming back. I spent four days in her company I could not believe what I had to see. I hated her suffering as she breathed her last, sadly these horrid memories stuck in my mind are the ones which will last..
It was a foggy freezing December day when we all met at the Crem our goodbyes to say. To a larger than life, loud colourful girl who with a flash of her eyes could set our working day in a whirl. She had to have the last word and as I sat there sobbing “Get a grip you silly cow” were the words that I heard. Then for her final bow she went out to Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now.
Karen 1958 – 2010