Our role in a family's crumbling world

My aunty Sue passed away 2 months ago. She was a strong German woman filled with fire and determination, a woman you look at and instantly admire. She could speak her truth and was never one to follow the rules, which still rang true when she was given her terminal diagnosis of cancer 12 years ago. She defiantly beat the odds; but we wouldn't expect anything less of my aunty Sue and, for a while, we thought she was unstoppable. She surpassed three terminal diagnoses, each specialist giving her 12 months to live but she didn't follow anyone's rules. My aunty Sue stormed her way through life and lived it to the full, but it was by no means easy. She filled her days with laughter, fun and so much happiness, but behind the smile was an endless list of pain relief medications which led to her to nap in all sorts of weird and wonderful places. This is part of what made her my aunty Sue. When you have someone as resilient as her in your life, you lure yourself into a false sense of security. When someone has been sentenced to death so many times before and laughed in its face, you never expect the day when it finally comes.