An odd couple of days

It's been an odd couple of days. Thursday was a real wash out. Readers of the Fox's blog will know he's not been feeling too well at the moment. He's still having tummy gripes though I think it is easing a bit now.

Wednesday night saw me flaking out. Straight after dinner, before it was even 7 pm I was in bed fast asleep. I dosed in and out to eventually surface at 7.30 am. By the time I'd had a shower & breakfast I was ready for bed again. So I dosed a further 4 hours, until the afternoon. I don't think there's anything wrong with me. As I said that ***** form is draining me physically, mentally & emotionally. We're hoping to get it completed today.

While I was dosing through the morning the phone went. I was surprised to discover on the answerphone later that it had been my cousin Pat. I was somewhat anxious. She doesn't ring often & usually only if something dire has happened. I was not reassured by the rather flat sound of her voice. She rang back later in the evening. Her husband, Tedward (When they were engaged to be married, he was called Ted when he was in Pat's good books, Edward when in her bad ones. My Aunt Jan gave up because she always picked the wrong name to refer to him to Pat & then got told off so in the end she decided it was safer to call him Tedward, a compromise name. It stuck.) anyhow Tedward had died. He was 74, no great age these days. He'd died suddenly & unexpectedly.

So it is that today my cousin Trudy rang. She wanted to make sure I'd heard the news. It's strange how deaths seem to bring families together. There is a need to put a protective blanket around the grieving members, to give them some support as they try to pick up their lives again.

I suspect there will be more such calls. I am one of the youngest of the cousins, & I'm in my mid 50s now. I can't help thinking it's a pity it isn't for a more joyous cause, a wedding, a birth for example. Perhaps it's just a sign that I'm growing older.