Monday 1 June 2009

The Good, the bad and the ugly!.......

The Good...
SisterM, SisterS, SisterP and I went to Dublin for four days. This was the very first time that we had been away as sisters together and it was fun. We are all so different and the differences do matter but underneath we are sisters and love each other warts-n-all.

We had bought the 3 day freedom pass at the airport when we arrived and this covered all our buses from the airport transfer to the hotel, the hop-on-hop-off city centre tour bus we used a lot, the long bus ride back from Dublin Bay and all our other bus trips right to the airport transfer back on Friday – great value at 25€.

Apart from shopping down Grafton Street we also went to Bewley’s restaurant for afternoon tea a couple of times, Jameson Whiskey distillery for the tour and tasting, St Patrick’s Cathedral where we enjoyed a choir from the University of Wisconsin (unexpected bonus), found a great old traditional Irish pub called O’Donahugh’s, a trip to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Learey) in Dublin Bay for a walk by the sea and an Irish night at the Arlington Hotel which included a three course meal, four man band and 5 ‘river-dance style’ dancers. All good fun.

SisterM got told off on the airplane going there for talking during the safety announcement, SisterS got told off for letting her case travel into the aisle on the bus, we all got told off for giggling loudly on the tour bus while the driver was giving his commentary and SisterM told me off for no reason when I was talking to SisterP – so you can see we behaved like kids :o)

Overall for me it was a total success and I hope we get to go away together again some time!

The Bad...
3am on Sunday 31st May 2009 we were woken by the phone and it was SisterM to tell me that mum had died an hour earlier!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a shock.

Mum and SisterM had been out together for their usual Saturday morning shopping trip to Sainsbury and although SisterM said later that mum had been a bit slower and a little more breathless she thought all had been fine. Mum had been her usual jokey self and had spent some time reading all the rude birthday cards to buy the few that she needed.

Mum had felt ill and very breathless in the early hours and had pulled the red emergency cord in her flat. She told the person that rang her back how she felt and they sent paramedics immediately. When they got there she was lying on the floor having had a cardiac arrest. Neither they nor the hospital could revive her. SisterM rang us from the hospital where she sat with mum for a while.

SisterM had said there was no point us going to the hospital but I couldn’t just sit at home so Hubby and I drove to SisterM’s house arriving just after 6am, SisterM and Brother-in-lawA were already home and later SisterS and Brother-in-lawK arrived and so did SisterP and Brother-in-lawR – we needed to be together!

The Ugly...
There are five of us siblings and our brother has unfortunately married the sister-in-law from hell. I was told that she had been stirring up trouble again trying to turn NephewE’s ex wife, Niece-in-lawE against our family. She even quoted a horrid something I am supposed to have said. Niece-in-lawE knew without a doubt this wasn’t something that I would have said or even thought so she gave Sister-in-lawS ‘a real mouthful’ on the phone (Niece-in-lawE’s words) and said she wanted nothing more to do with her.

We were all so relieved that BrotherR and Sister-in-lawS didn’t feel the need to come to SisterM’s even though she had told them we would all be there when she broke the news. Later in the morning when I’d gone with SisterM to mum’s flat Sister-in-lawS rang SisterM’s mobile and started saying that BrotherR wanted to register the death and do lots of other stuff so SisterM cut her short and told her to put BrotherR on the phone – what an interfering cow! Hopefully after mum is laid to rest we never have to see them again!!!

And closing...
Can’t believe that Hubby and I have lost three parents in five months and together with all the trauma around losing my job and Daughter’s suffering from LittleOne’s birth 2009 has been the worst year so far of my life! Please please please let it get better from now on.

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