Sunday 6 July 2008

When the phone goes at a strange time ..

When your mom calls you at around midnight UK time and you only spoke the day before - you know it's not going to be good news. So this is what happened .. my aunt in South Africa was in the kitchen getting the Friday night dinner ready. She heard a thump, but didn't think anything of it. Around 30 mins later she went to the dining room to put food on the table and found my uncle dead on the floor with the two challah breads he'd been carrying to the table on the floor next to him. He'd had a huge heart attack. It doesn't seem quite real - especially as as he was the youngest of the brother-in-laws - only 63.
Just the day before, my South African family had had the good news that my little cousin (I call her little because I was 8 when she was born) had passed her actuary exams after many years of slog. I'm so happy her dad got to share in her good news - but what a shock to go from celebrating one day to mourning the next. Proof again that life can change crazily from moment to moment.

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