03 August 2011

The Good and the Bad

Today in 1990 Sam and Teg (my old Jack Russells were born) Teg was first at about 6 in the morning, while Sam lazily hung on for a few more hours until 8.30am. They were the only two in the litter and my Mum who was retiring in the Autumn of 1990 wanted to spend her time raising the pups while also looking after two 18 month old lakeland terriers (Holly and Toby). To this end she gave up smoking and to our amazement succeeded.. we were so proud of her not only because she didn't tell anyone she waited until they asked.

Any visitors to the house were only allowed to see the puppies after they had said hello to the bigger dogs and eventually they were happy to act as a pack -which is a whole other story.

So that is the good

On this day in 1992, in the early hours of the morning my Mum suffered acute heart failure due to her having suffered rheumatic heart disease as a young child in the 1930's. Apparently the heart murmur was hardly noticeable but it cause damage to one of her heart valves over the years and without much notice she complained of being breathless and within a short time collapsed and died. This was our first introduction to sudden death and as a family hit us very hard; our comfort was the knowledge that she didn't suffer and we held onto that fact as our world was shaken.

This year we would have celebrated both her and my Dad's 80th birthday but twas not to be.

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