Thursday 30 December 2010

Birth and death and a cat.

I am reminded of our frailty and yet our amazing strengths today. David's grandson's wife is having her first baby today. Gone are the days of waiting to see when nature will take its course. This birth was booked a fair while ago. We have all known its gender too so we can be sure of getting the right colour. The boy is due to be born this afternoon by Cesarean section. To be fair it was going to be a breech delivery but the surgical operation had been talked of before the baby turned!
This morning I did the funeral of an 87 year old man. They had had no children and his wife is the same age as her husband. They had both been civil servants and moved to St Mawes to retire . There were no living relations. They had all died off and yet the courage of the widow was extraordinary. She had visited him every day since he had his serious stroke and said,
" He would not have wanted a eulogy...he didn't go in for that sort of thing." She allowed me then to talk about him a bit, his war experience and how he had learned how to sail.
Both ends of the human spectrum. We are born, live and then we die. The cyclical inevitability of it all is very evident right now.
And then there was the cat. A handsome black and white cat sat on the doorstep of the crematorium with me as I waited for the car bringing the coffin. As it drew close the cat turned round and ran into the inner most sanctum. I asked if he was allowed to go in there.
The young man in charge turned with a grin.
"He lives here. Its nice and warm for him"
All creatures great and small. You know the rest.

3 comments:

UKViewer said...

Jean, thanks for sharing. It's the circle of life and death which is natural that moves me. But each situation being unique paints a picture of lives being lived out, hopefully in love, but often, unloved.

As for the Cat, they know where they are wanted and if they are not, they soon slope off somewhere warmer.

Revjeanrolt said...

Just a quick note to say that Oliver has now emerged into the world and is receiving his adoring worshippers as I type. All doing well.

Ray Barnes said...

Congratulations step great grandmama. Doesn't that paint a picture of a Victorian centenarian?

Yet, one of John's nephews, who was 21 the year we married, is a grandfather several times over.

Making me, by default, a great, great aunt!, and I'm really not anywhere near a hundred yet.
The relentless time treadmill picks us up and drops us off at a given time. Let's hope Oliver has a long healthy happy share to look forward to.