They came round for dinner two weeks ago and stayed the night to tell us they had just found out that Kees had terminal cancer and was given 6-12 months to live. They then flew over to Amsterdam the next morning where all his family live to tell them the sad news. Two days ago Susie rang to say that Kees had died that morning, and though it was diagnosed as terminal, two weeks was an even greater tragedy when it could have been upto a year that Susie had left with him.
As a result Verian, Clare, Luke, are driving over for the funeral which is next Monday, and Jamie is flying in from Dubai and Ian from Canada if he can make it. I have booked the ferry tickets, a 4 berth outer cabin for the family there and back, and a double berth outer for Susie who is returning with the family on Tuesday. I presume that she will have the cabin to herself and not have to share it?
There is little you can offer in these circumstances other than sympathy, but I told Susie that if I had been in Kees place, I would have preferred to have gone that quickly rather than a long drawn out, painful death that she would have to watch through. That happened to her own father with cancer, and also to Verian's father, with her mother taking even longer through Alzheimers. They died a shadow of their former selves whereas I was laughing and joking, and putting the World to rights with Kees just two weeks ago.
Not the time to ask yet, and we will be looking after Susie when she comes home as we are her only family in Scotland, but I hope that Kees planned ahead and that she is well looked after. They have no children so she will inherit the estate and a nice mortgage free house in Buckie. As a result of a scare that I had recently, I immediately made out a new will and checked that Verian would be financially well off with my Pensions, Widows pensions etc, as I have no life insurance.
Life has to go on, but it can dish out some lousy deals in the meantime.
tut
