92 is a good age

Yesterday we went to the funeral of one of Mr AJ's cousins. She was called Paddy, although she'd been christened Irene, because her Dad had wanted a boy.
Now, Peter's family are a dying breed. We had six cousins in total there yesterday and there were only another 3 or 4 missing. At our wedding, my family could have gone on forever: his was distinctly smaller. And 24 years have only made it shrink more.

I'm rambling. Yes. Back to my point.



My point is that her true family actually weren't the relatives. There were 5 or 6 neighbours there, many of whom had known Paddy for the 40 years she lived in the house, who talked about her with such love, and sadness at her passing, that it made me smile. They had given her food, took her out for drives, been there for her when the closest family were almost an hour away. Two of them even had power of attorney at the end, because of the closeness and the proximity. I wish we could all say that we had neighbours as close and as friendly.

And the highlight of the day was when the PoA (no names, please) said that she'd applied for planning permission for an extension several times and it had always been refused due to neighbour complaints. She had never known which neighbour was complaining.... until now. After having Power of Attorney, she'd been through Paddy's papers and there, in a small bundle, were the letters of complaint. Never in all the years had either of them asked if the other knew.



She has applied for planning permission again now. I don't think there'll be any complaints.

Comments

  1. I hope the day went as well as these ever can go. It's wonderful to hear how those around your Paddy were so caring and helpful, a real comfort to her family I'm sure.
    Lisa x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. By the end it was a lovely day. We met a bunch of new relatives, so that was fun!

      Delete
  2. OOh, so it was her complaining!?? I hope the day went well and I am glad she was so well thought of!x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, apparently she complained every time. Didn't stop them being friends, though.

      Delete
  3. 92 is a very good age, isn't it. I think we do expect to live longer these days, it used to be three score years and ten, just seventy but we consider that too young to die now. It sounds like Paddy enjoyed her life with her neighbour family, how lovely to have such good friends and live so close by.

    ReplyDelete

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