Wednesday 13 November 2013

Once again, it's been a while!

The past few months have been a bit of a roller coaster for our family. 
 
The 29 September saw us celebrating Emily's birthday. We went out for breakfast to start off her birthday but while out I got a phone call from Jon telling me that his brother Mike had had a heart attack at Church.
An ambulance got there quickly and the paramedics spent time getting his heart going again before taking him to the main Cardiac Unit in Brighton, about an hour from us. Sadly, Mike passed away in the early hours of Saturday, 05 October.

We're thankful that he was in Church when it happened and help was quickly on hand. We are also thankful that his sons, Ryan and Darren were able to get to the UK from Canada and South Africa respectively, that his sister Deb came down from Yorkshire and brother, Simon, flew in from America and all got to say their goodbyes.

Ryan's wife and sons flew in from Canada, Darren's girlfriend arrived from South Africa as did their mother, Merle and Mike's sister Penny. It was lovely to get the opportunity to spend time with extended family in the run up to the funeral and to see the other family members who were able to make it to the funeral from the UK.

 Family
Deb, Simon, Penny, Ryan, Jon, Darren, Ryan's son Owen, Mike's son Steve, Mike's step father Frank and nephew Mark.
 Siblings Deb, Simon, Penny & Jon with Frank
 
 Alice loved having young cousins to play with - seen here with Owen (thank goodness for iPads!)
 Ryan's wife Shannon - love this girl and so glad we got to spend time together.
 Claire and Megan
 Merle with Shannon (her daughter-in-law)
 Sarah (Mike's daughter-in-law), Emily and Norma
 Darren and Natasha
 Emily and me
Finton, Ryan & Shannon's younger son.
 
Despite the sadness of the occasion, there were many happy moments, lots of memories shared and Mike's life celebrated. I'm sure he'd have been pleased to see so many family members together again and enjoying each others company.
 
I hope to post again in the next few days.
 
xx