Weddings are a time of happiness, laughter, tears of joy and the wedding that we celebrated on the 17th of December was all of that, but also there were tears of sorrow too. The story is a simple one, teenage love that through those turbulent teenage years did not survive. Forty years later they found each other again and realised that spark had never disappeared and thankfully Maree and Graham have had fourteen wonderful years together, always with the promise that they would get around to marrying one day. However fate took a turn for the worst and Graham was diagnosed with a terminal illness but there was still hope that there would be enough time to plan for that long awaited day. That cruel fate however had other plans, or maybe it was a way to stop the two of them procrastinating yet again :), and Graham was moved to the palliative care unit at Sunshine Hospital (shout out to the wonderful nurses who work there and have made Graham's time there much more pleasant.)
Light can always be found in darkness however and we were blessed to be told about The Orange Pigeon Inc which is a make a wish foundation for adults (I had never heard about it before and now I want to tell everyone about it) and through this wonderful foundation Maree and Graham's wishes were able to come true. With much thanks to The Orange Pigeon Inc., Melissa K Life Ceremonies and Little Shop of Posies for making Mum and Graham's day so special. Also to the wonderful staff at Sunshine Hospital palliative care unit who have helped lighten days with laughter. Congratulations once again to my mother Maree and Graham who have officially become Mr and Mrs Broodryk, you may not have much time together but each moment will be spent with love and laughter and that is the most important thing of all.
I know this is not a blog entry about travel, but the roads we travel and the important things in life which is love. laughter and happiness. It is important to make the most of moments because time is fleeting and those precious moments will forever be memories. You don't know what course fate is going to take you in so make the most of every opportunity, take chances, love life and don't sweat the small stuff.
3/1/18
Graham's journey here has sadly come to an end, but we were grateful that we had an opportunity to spend a lot of time laughing and reminiscing and saying goodbye (an opportunity that not everyone gets to have so I will be forever thankful. Graham is now on a new path and if our paths are to ever cross again I hope that we will be able to have more adventures together.
R.I.P Graham. I love you.