The Last Days:

This entry has been a long time coming. It has taken me months to recover sufficiently to finish this blog but there is good reason for that.Two days before I was due to fly home, my beloved mum passed away from complications with her heart surgery.I have never felt such desolation and isolation in my life.The last days of what has been my biggest adventure to date were so scarred by such an enormous loss. My blood relatives now reduced to two sisters and my own two precious children.I was due to fly home 48 hours later. As mums condition existed prior to my departure, her death didn’t qualify for an insurance funded alteration to my flights so I had to fill in another day an a half before checking out and heading back to the land down under.I went through the motions of saying farewell to a place I’d dreamed of visiting as long as I can remember. I imagine every Disney fan feels a wrench leaving hallowed ground but for me it effected me deeply.More life altering than anyone should have to bear.I did what I imagine are all the usual things… last minute shopping, last rides on the favourites, last churro, last castle photo, last character hug.Although, I can remember barely eating those last days, I was running on auto, so I did miss some opportunities to partake of distinctively Disney fare. I also lost the taste for the wild rides, and my last ride was on my favourite… the Tea Cups.Then it was back to my room at the Menage for what was to be a truly Herculean effort of organising my luggage so that every little thing was packed and ready to go. I was the most worried about the huge bottle of Strawberry magarita mix that was nestled amongst my favourite clothes and leather boots but it made it home unscathed. It cost me a pretty penny to get that extra bag home but so very worth it.The flight home was interesting. I got a bulkhead seat so I had so much room to stretch out it was ridiculous. Trouble was, I was on the window seat and then had to crawl over two men to get out when the need arose. The one on the end wasn’t such a worry. A spiffily dressed, chatty and surprisingly cute miner from WA, only a fraction younger than me, who I wished was the one in the centre seat rather than the old smelly man who actually got centre stage.None the less, I again slept the majority of the way home and then the blur of travel included being back on home turf, unpacking ( read - upending my suitcase on the bed and hurling in clothes for a chilly Victorian winter funeral, which under any circumstances would have been dreadful) and then returning to the airport early the next morning heading for Melbourne.So in 24 hours, I had been in LA, New Zealand, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Melbourne and finally after a series of handoffs between cousins and a seemingly endless car journey, a tiny dot on the map in the middle of Victoria.The sadness was so overwhelming, made worse by the backlash from some of my mums closest friends due to my being overseas at the time. Being snubbed at my mothers funeral by a few families was something I could never had envisaged coming from the people I grew up amongst. But grief has some strange side effects and some people need someone to blame. Despite the ill feeling, I managed to hold it together at her funeral to read a letter I’d written her earlier in the year, telling her how much she meant to us all.I’m sure both mum and dad will still keep a seat warm for me in heaven, and I’m sure she’s surrounded by flowers more beautiful than any of us could ever imagine. I love you mum.In my work, I have constant contact with many women my age, helping their growing-elderly mothers to shop. I see many frustrated daughters trying to grasp the changes in their parent as they age and require more patience. To those women I simply want to remind you how fortunate you are to see your parent at that stage of their life. Cherish it. Ask the questions you’ve been meaning to. Solidify your knowledge of your family’s roots. The opportunity to do so can be taken from you without a moments notice.The last words I said to my mother were, ‘I love you mum’ said before I departed on my trip.Her last words to anyone were ‘just love each other’.Can there be any better advice?