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Writer's pictureCathie Rooyen

The planet dulled

Tuesday 13th June 2023


I've been blessed with great friends. Some I regularly keep in contact with, and with others it's a voice note or three every once in a while. Most people know the gist of my life due to social media so when we get together,  I can simply listen and hear their life as they usually know mine.


I know some people might not understand how can I sayI have great friends with such little contact but it's the power of the connection that is important to me.


When I was a little girl, my brother had a girlfriend for a short time. She made such an impact on my life that I never forgot her, even as life before the internet allowed people to drift away.


Years ago,  I can't quite remember the date, we found each other again and she'd been living around the corner, literally less than 2km away all this time. We connected and my life was immediately richer. She was better than I remembered and I love her to bits.


Today, she sadly passed away after a month in hospital.  It feels so strange to even write this, with her bubbly chatter filling my head. She loved life, and made everyone around her feel like they mattered.  She organised meals, games evenings and opened her home to us and I loved every minute of it. I was fortunate enough to have some special one on one time with her, where a quick pop round would be a day of not getting anything else done.


For her 50th birthday,  she learned to play electric guitar and performed such a complicated piece so brilliantly and then proceeded to dance the night away. For her 60th, she had us dress up in costume (prompting my love for dress up a short year later in lockdown). She was one of a kind and I'm privileged to have shared the planet with her. My heart goes out to her husband and family as they begin to wade through their swamp of grief. 


She had so many plans, and would often complain about feeling like she won't have the time to do them all. But the time she spent with me, is some of my absolute favourite times. She was one of life's treasures.  Gosh, I'm going to miss her.


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