Day 24... Finding the right words....

I have been trying to catch up with my neighbour with no joy.  Thankfully I bumped into her daughter, who sadly told me her mum was in hospital, under close observation.  Apparently, it’s now only a matter of time, which breaks my heart. 

My lovely neighbour is a very proud Italian lady and upon request, I got told that I couldn’t see her at the hospital, because she doesn’t want people to see her in this way.  I could fully understand that, but I really wanted to let her know that I and both Ross and Dylan were thinking of her.

I’m away for a number of days soon and I suppose having seen cancer take a number of my family members over the years, I know that the signs being shown, can only lead down one path.  As said previously, Ernestina has been good to me.  I pay rent and do all the other stuff a tenant would do, but for some reason our relationship is more than just tenant and landlord. 

I’m not family obviously and learning from my own experiences in the past, this type of illness and the impact it has on family members is usually a private affair, yet on Friday I couldn’t help feel really sad at the thought of perhaps not ever being able to see her again.  However, respecting what the family wants and of course what Ernestina wants is far more important than any of my wishes.

The only thing I could do was to write her a letter and so that’s what I did.

I can’t remember the last time I actually wrote a handwritten letter.  It took me four attempts and even on the last one I still made a slight mistake, but time was now running out.  Like anything, when a situation is so serious, it is difficult to find the right words and tone and I needed to get it right.

So I decided to keep it light, well, light enough.  I shared information of what we had done as a family over the last week and our pending plans for the weekend.  It was the best I could do, I’m not sure if she appreciated it or even if she had the energy to read it, but I hope so.

Finding the right words can be difficult, but what I am learning is this…..

If you are true with your intentions and generous in your heart then the right words always seem to find you, even when you're struggling.