A funeral

I drove down to the coast today, taking my mother to a funeral. Her sister-in-law, my aunt.

It was a little sad, as these things always are, but I was glad to catch up with my cousins, who I don’t see nearly often enough.

We all lived within a few doors of each other growing up in Ipswich, and my cousins were effectively extra siblings, which made my aunt a stand-in mother.

I had taken Mum down to visit her in the hospital, a couple of weeks ago, when she was on the way out. In the end, it looked like a merciful release.

The drive home was hell. Terrible weather, awful road conditions, and I got stuck in the tangled madness of the freeway system somewhere between Logan and Springfield.

Still, it was nice to see the cousins down the beach.