So, on the eve of her last journey in this life, what does mums passing mean to me.
She was someone who loved, and someone who was loved. She was always smiling. She had a large happy family, and she always wanted to spend time with them.
She was one of my favourite patients.
Despite her deafness she enjoyed life to the very full travelling widely, both with her husband Oliver and her children and grandchildren.
Many years ago she set a target to get to 100 and she made it! Despite Covid.
But what made her that person, never beaten, even when the odds were sometimes stacked against her? I think her time in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS).
She is the last of my parents generation, known to me, who served in the war, to leave this life. So their stories now pass into history. I want to take this opportunity to remind us all of that history and specially thank her for that service.
Many of her generation got a letter in the post to tell them that normal life was about to stop and that they were being called up into compulsory military service during WW2. They had to leave their family, their friends, their work and go to some strange place far away, with no end in sight. Imagine if you got such a letter tomorrow. Mum gave up four years to serve the country we live in today. Without people like her, who were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, we would not be free as we are today.
Many ATS women gave their lives for our freedom and I know she would want me to remember them in this remembrance tribute. I know though that she made many life long friends in the ATS and that she was proud of that service.
So the next time you book that foreign holiday, buy that new house or that new car, give a thought for the young Constance, and what she gave up so we can be free today.
Rest in peace mum, I will miss you.
Dr Phil
22nd February 2023