Beryl was the most amazing woman, a true role model to everyone, not just
an off the rails young adult like me. I
was barely 20 when I found myself kicked out of a share house with nowhere to
live. Faced with the prospect of being homeless I had no idea what to do. It
was my best friend Timmy who approached his parents to see if I could board in the
empty room they had.
Mr and Mrs H being two of the most compassionate people you could ever
meet said “yes of course!”, and for the measly sum of $40 a week gave me a
place to live and fed me to boot. I think I must have been quite the handful
back then, I remember both of them taking me aside more than once to have a
chat about what was appropriate behaviour under their roof. I truly give a lot
of credit to the person I became to my Mumma H and the slow but steady guidance
she gave me.
I grew up a child of divorce, our mother left the family home and we
stayed with our father. I do not blame my mum or think she could have done
anything different but that’s another story. I longed to have a mum, to sit
around a kitchen table and talk about life, someone who would love me and take
care of me without keeping tally of what I owed them. Mrs H was the proud mother
of four boys, correction the VERY proud mother of four boys. She longed to have
a daughter to take care of and share girly things with.
We were quite the match, though perhaps Mumma H would have liked a
slightly less damaged, headstrong, and rambunctious acquired daughter. Still
she loved me, I was part of her family, expected to be there for Mr H’s Sunday
lunch, the one day of the week the family sat down together. I treated the
younger boys like my little brothers and fought with my Timmy as if he was my
big brother.
As happens children grow up and young adults leave home and make no
mistake the Mr and Mrs H’s house was my home. As time passed I went back to
visit less and less but I never forgot the kindness they showed me. I never
forgot the love they had for a damaged little girl trying to be a grown up. My
most cherished gift is still the beautiful, handmade wooden key Mumma H gave me
for my 21st birthday.
Timmy is still my closest, most precious friend, more family than some of
my blood relatives. It hit me hard when Mumma H was diagnosed with cancer. Even
when I was in other cities and out of touch I would be asking Timmy how our
parents were. I rejoiced every time she was in remission and worried each time
it came back.
I could not have been happier on my wedding day to have my second mum
right there wearing a corsage and approving of the man I was marrying. Timmy
and I know our mum’s secretly (well in my mum’s case not so secretly) wished
the two of us would marry. Neither mum seemed to care about the small problem
of us both liking boys! Mumma H liked Jason though and told me he was a lovely
man.
This week cancer won, it took our beloved mother, friend, and wife. It is
a sad week for us all, but I know it is saddest of all for Mr H, he lost his
best friend and partner, a once in a lifetime woman. I have no words to take
away his pain, how do you live so close to love personified and continue when
her light is extinguished?
How do any of us go on now we have lost our angel?
Today we lost an angel
My loving second mum
Today we cry together
Our grief will make us one
Today we lost an angel
A soul so true and rare
Today she found her peace
Home into her lord’s care
Today we lost an angel
What more is there to say
Today our hearts are shattered
For we lost an angel today.
~24~08~2017~
Big hugs to you and your family, what a beautiful lady and you had her for a mum, you were so lucky, to have a soul so open with love. Forever in your heart xxx
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. 💜💜💜
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