June 25: This is a bit odd I suppose, when I should be writing about the wonderful adventures I’m having, but I found the following quote on my laptop, and it seemed particularly relevant to my Mum’s passing, and perhaps to the motivations for my trip. It’s from the book “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman, Hodder and Stoughton, London, England, 2014.
“Death is a strange thing. People spend their whole lives as if it does not exist, and yet it is often one of the great motivations for living. Some of us, in time, become so conscious of it that we live harder, more obstinately, with more fury. Some need its constant presence to be even aware of its antithesis. Others become so preoccupied with it that they go into the waiting room long before it has announced its arrival. We fear it, yet most of us fear more than anything that it may take someone other than ourselves. For the greatest fear of death is always that it will pass us by. And leave us there alone.
…. And time is a curious thing. Most of us only live for the time that lies right ahead of us. A few days, weeks, years. One of the most painful moments in a person’s life probably comes with the insight that an age has been reached when there is more to look back on than ahead. And when time no longer lies ahead of one, other things have to be lived for. Memories, perhaps. Afternoons in the sun with someone’s hand clutched in one’s own. The fragrance of flowerbeds in fresh bloom. Sundays in a café. Grandchildren, perhaps. One finds a way of living for the sake of someone else’s future. ….. “