Remembering...

Way back in July this year, I wrote a post about my friend Jenny who had just been diagnosed with MND (ALS). 

So many of you wrote loving thoughts on this post. The prognosis then was that she would 'have 2 years'. Sadly this was a trifle optimistic, and the disease progressed quite rapidly with Jenny passing early this month.
I was very sad, but I realised that life was getting more and more difficult day by the day for my friend. She had gone into a nursing home and in the last week or so of her life, breathing and swallowing had become difficult and she was in pain. So the fact that she slipped into unconsciousness one night, was transferred to hospital and then slipped away there the next day without regaining consciousness...it was such a blessing.

On the Sunday after Jenny's passing our group of friends met at one of her favourite coffee shops for our regular monthly coffee morning. We shared stories and tears. As a memorial to our friend we all put in $10 each to make a sizeable donation to be sent to the Motor Neurone Association in memory of our friend. 

The funeral was delayed until her son and his family could arrive from the UK and it was held last Wednesday. I was so disappointed that, as things turned out, I would not be in Brisbane as I was visiting family in Far North Queensland.
By a strange coincidence DH and I spent the day visiting memorials to his older brother and 10 others who perished in a plane crash to the west of Cairns in 1990. ( the passengers were all Councillors returning from a Local Government Conference in Airlie Beach, except for the pilot and a nun, Sister Nadia who was given a seat when one of the Councillors decided to drive home. How lucky was he?) 

The first one we visited was the memorial at Tolga on the Atherton Tableland. DH and I were guests when this refurbished memorial was unveiled by the then Governor, in May 2010 which marked the 20th anniversary of the crash.

Some photographs were called for; last time we were here there were too many people around to get some quiet time to read and photograph the plaque.

 

The next memorial we visited was in the Bicentennial Gardens in the town of Mareeba...

There is a memorial near the Cairns Council buildings but this visit, DH took me to the one in an old Pioneer Cemetery in Cairns. This memorial honours only DH's brother, who at the time of his death, was the Mayor of Cairns...

A nice little band rotunda...

And plaque...

Surprisingly, visiting  all these memorials was not a sad experience...rather it was quite uplifting due to the beauty of this area of Queensland.