Saturday was the 25th anniversary of the passing of my best mate's mum. I spent Saturday with said mate, driving to Brighton, going to the game, the usual Saturday stuff. He, as he has done ever since I've known him apart from fleeting moments, kept any thoughts he may have been having about her to himself.
I never met her, not becoming close to him until after she passed on, but would like nonetheless to pay tribute to her here. At his wedding in May, remembering her in his speech, he quoted one of his favourite sayings. 'To live on in the hearts of those we love is not to die.' A beautiful sentiment and one he lives by, remembering her the way he does. Indeed, I'd go further. He is nothing less than a living embodiment of his late mum's qualities, as well as those of his dad of course, and a lasting legacy to her life that shows that she is still, through him and his sister, having a positive impact on the world. She would have been, rightly, hugely proud of both of them, as they are of her.
If everybody's life were led the way hers was, such that its lasting impression is one of a pure goodness continuing to be done even after they were gone, of the human qualities we should all hope we have within ourselves being passed on unmistakeably, the world would be a much, much better place. I don't know what sort of bloke he'd have been were she not taken from her family when she was, but I do know that he, and his sister, would certainly have been no less than they are now – the absolute finest, the most human, the most empathetic and selfless people you could ever hope to know.
I hope he'll forgive me for making this most personal of entries but, when I've spoken to him about her in the past, I've felt that I've never really been able to do justice to what she's left the world. The highest possible tribute I can pay her is that she, and all her qualities, indeed live on in their hearts.
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