One year has passed.........Uncle Richard, gone but not forgotten

Today marks one year since my beautiful cousins Lyds and Daz said goodbye to their dad. He left this earth way too young, at the ripe age of 57! A time when you are in the home stretch of your working life. A time when you are planning all of those golden things you will do in retirement. Lyds and I got together yesterday afternoon, mainly to just catch up on what is going on in each others lives- but also to remember her angel, hero, mentor, her voice when she couldn't speak, her DAD.
It was a lovely afternoon, we talked, drank some red wine (4.5 bottles by the end of the night!)and watched our kids play beautifully. Little
Kids have such innocent souls and don't have a care in the world. One of the things we talked about was the house fire in Sorrento which happened the day before. A wife/mother, lost her beautiful husband and one of her daughters. It made us realise that you never know when your time is up, to appreciate each and every moment of every day. I'm terrified of anything happening to my children or my husband, I don't think I could cope if I lost one of them.
We talked about birth and death- the beginning and the end!
I have no idea how it feels to lose a parent and I said that to Lyds. She said "it sucks, it hurts". Last night she did not want to feel anything, she wanted to be numb, she did not want today to come.
Uncle Richard, known to most as Dick- I just want to let you know that your children remember you every day, tears flow, hearts ache, dreams have been crushed. In time their hearts will heal, but one year on, the pain is still raw. Please perch yourself on their shoulder and be an angel to watch over them. Give them the strength to follow their dreams and to slowly stitch their hearts back together.
57 years of age- too young for anyone to leave this earth! Tell the important people in your life that you love them, cuddle your kids at every opportunity, don't have any regrets, forgive for wrongs that have been made- LIVE!