A good friend of mine Colette, passed away 5 years ago today. She was in Turkey, where she had been under going treatment for her cancer. She was returning home to Ireland, so that she could be in her homeland. But she passed away, in the airport.
She was far too young to die, her son had not yet turned 2 years of age. She was so full of life and she still, had so much to give.
Today on her anniversary, I watched a documentary called "The Sailor", another good friend of mine, V (who was the midwife for C, whilst I was her Doula), send me the link for it a few days back.
V left Spain at the beginning of the month to sail to Morocco with her partner, as she has a few births to attend to there.
Today she helped a warrior woman, birth her daughter, almost at the same time, as our friend passed away 5 years ago. V was with C when she passed away and today she was there to witness the birth of a beautiful little girl.
The world really does work in such beautifully mysterious ways and I can only imagine, how emotional it has been for my friend.
You never get past the feeling of how very unfair it is, when you lose someone, way too soon. She was just entering motherhood. Such an important Rite of Passage.
I've been thinking a lot about mortality today. The documentary I watched. Which I really enjoyed, is about an 80 year old man from South Africa, who spend most of his life living on the water. He has certainly had a very full life, having sailed the world most of his life. But now, as he nears the end of his life, he is alone on his boat.
He has had partners, was married even, but they all wanted to move back onto the land. So eventually everyone left him. On the one hand, it is sad that he is alone.
But on the other hand, it is also beautiful because, he stayed true to who he is. He just doesn't want to live on the land, even now. At one point, he tells us that he never expected to live this long. That he is also quite ready to go.
And yet, he is still going.
Freedom, is what is most important to him, but at what cost? That he will end his days alone? It certainly, looked that way in the documentary.
I think of my friend, who was taken too soon, way too soon and this Man who has lived a very full life and is ready to move on from this world. Both of them, very passionate about life, about the way in which they have lived their lives.
You have to be a warrior to be the first person to sail across the Atlantic in a small boat, which the sailor Paul Johnson did. My friend C was also a warrior, from the impact she had in the lives of others, to the way she dealt with her journey with Cancer and her passing.
I felt in a way, like I was honouring her, by watching this documentary, I know that she would have enjoyed it too.
Living life to the fullest, that is what is important. Appreciating everything and everyone in your life. We have no idea how long our time here will be, but we must remember to keep living, truly living, because just existing, is not enough.
We must remember, that Life is a Gift
