What follows is my tribute and prayer to my Aunt Molly.
Molly is the sort of aunty that everybody needs from time to time. She is strong, down to earth, a good listener and will give you honest advice (whether you like it or not). She possesses a wicked sense of humour and can be quite mischievous.
Jadeite and I would visit Molly and ‘Uncle Sid’ every few months. Apart from our conversations, I really miss walking up the road with Sid to pick up dinner from the local Chinese Takeaway and sneaking out into the back garden with Molly for a smoke.
Unfortunately, Molly’s health is failing and she finds herself in a situation where she is bedridden and reliant on a dialysis machine plus very strong pain killers to keep going. She is still at home with my cousins doing an incredible job, looking after all her needs.
Molly has made arrangements to be able to direct her specialist to turn off the dialysis machine which will result in her passing away within the next two weeks.
I pray that our Aunt Molly makes the transition as painlessly and peacefully as possible to join Uncle Sid, waiting for her in heaven.
It is a weird experience not knowing how the person you know most intimately (yourself) will react.
Once we sat down and started talking and reminiscing with her, I realized that this was not about me, it was about 'us'.
Molly was all smiles and wanted to hear the latest 'gossip' as well as tell us stories from the past. I looked over to the other side of the bed and spotted a packet of cigarettes which made me smile. Nobody was going to tell her what NOT to do in her castle! We discovered this when we were 'shooed out' and Jadeite looked back and saw that Molly had lit up a smoke.
Although faced with a bad situation, Molly had made the best decision for her and at the end of the day, that is all that counts.
Tonight (Sunday 26/08/18), we received a call from our cousin informing us that Aunt Molly passed away peacefully.
She was not in pain and was content that everything that needed doing had been carried out by the family.
She was an amazing person and I guess that she got a little satisfaction in amazing the specialists with how long she endured without dialysis (a week short of three months).
Next steps will be the funeral and the wake, where we can give her a 'proper' send-off. Heck, I might even have one smoke or maybe a very small glass of wine while hearing her say in an exasperated voice "Oh really, just get over it and get on with life".
One day, we'll catch-up while stretched out on a marble bench in a heavenly garden, and laugh about the 'good old days'.
T-Rex, you know just 'one smoke' can be like one drink to an alcoholic, right? Do you really want to go through that mess again?
I'm really sorry to hear about Molly. But I think she went the way most of us would like too: no pain, content and knowing she was loved. Can't really ask for more.
Aunt Molly's funeral was on Friday morning, 31 Aug 2018. The service was a loving celebration of Molly’s life. She had wanted no tears but only happy memories. Rex's cousins gave moving eulogies and tributes of all Molly had achieved, what a great mother she was and how she always caught them out in a lie.
Molly didn’t care at first about what songs to pick for her funeral because she had lost her hearing and it wouldn't matter after she was gone. But then it was explained to her: "But you'll be a ghostie then and you can listen to the service because everything will be working again." She then said, "Well, in that case...!" She had "True Love" by Dean Martin because she and Uncle Syd danced to that at their wedding. One of the granddaughters made a video montage of family photos, including the one taken of Rex and me at our engagement party. The song played during that was: "It's a Wonderful World," by Louis Armstrong. We finished with another favourite, "I still call Australia home," by Peter Allen for the recessional.
We ended up going to the wake and caught up with Rex's cousins, and a few of the grandchildren. Rex's niece and sister-in-law were there too. It turned out to be a joyful family reunion and a happy wake – just the way Molly had wanted.
As we were leaving, one of the cousins gave us Christmas presents Molly had already organised for us. Among the items was the tiger's-eye-and-jade rosary (made by my mum) that I had given her years ago. Strangely enough, I was asked at the wake if I wanted anything of Molly’s as a keepsake and I had asked about that rosary. But Molly had already given instructions for it to be given to me.
That was our Molly.
-- Edited by Jadeite on Friday 31st of August 2018 10:44:55 AM
-- Edited by Jadeite on Friday 31st of August 2018 10:46:12 AM
