Friday 18 October 2013

frock on

Have you met Kylie? She's over in Western Australia doing a sponsored frock-a-thon throughout October to raise money for a cancer charity. I've been following her adventures and those of her guest frocksters. In today's post, Curtise writes frankly and movingly about how she lost her friend to ovarian cancer, and I guess it struck a chord.

I realised that as of yesterday, I am the age that my Aunty Angela was when she died of cancer (49).
She was my Mum's baby sister and my role model growing up - funny, articulate, beautiful and intellectual. Everything I wanted to be. Her time from diagnosis to death was brutally short, weeks rather than months or years. There was no time for a brave fight or a dignified struggle, it just swept her away.


We came over from New Zealand to England for a nine month holiday when I was eight. It was the first time my brother and I had met most of our family (my parents were migrant Poms). Angela made a photo album as a present for my 9th birthday and a souvenir of our trip. Looking back now, I appear to have been doing my very own frock-a-thon.


As a librarian, then bookshop owner, she was always a lover of the written word. A spirited woman with a sense of adventure, I think she might have approved of my new adventures in blogging. I am not a religious person, but I believe that the people we have lost live on in the hearts and minds of those who loved them.

So this one's for you Angela - I carry you with me.


15 comments:

  1. What a lovely and very moving tribute to your Aunty Angela, I think you are right, and I was saying this to someone this morning, those we love live on in our hearts and memories, and I am sure that from what you have said, your aunty lives on in you.

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  2. What wonderful photos, and yes,such great frocks! I am the same age as you, but I don't think I looked as chic as an 8 year old! But I do remember our dresses being very, very short.
    Angela looks, and sounds, gorgeous. How desperate to lose her. I'm not religious either, and I agree the way that people live on is through our memories and thoughts.
    Thank you so much for linking to my post as well as Kylie's, and for coming over to my blog to comment, I really appreciate it.
    Love Curtise xxx

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    1. They were incredibly short dresses and my legs are like two bits of knotted string. My Mum used to make my dresses but I think I had a couple of extra ones made for our big trip.

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  3. What a lovely tribute, and a fabulous poncho!

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    1. My Nana crocheted that poncho and the necklace was a pre acid house smiley face.

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  4. Beautiful friend...how absolutely wonderful that you had such an outstanding role model like your Aunt Angela. Those photos of you and your family are fantastic! And thank you for sharing your story...you are so right...people do live on through us. All the best this weekend. Nicole xoxo

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  5. Your post is just as moving as Curtise's post, Bernice.
    It is a lovely tribute to your Aunty Angela, who sounds like a marvellous woman in so many ways.
    I will pop a link to it on my blog today (and thank you for linking to mine and Curtise's)
    You were quite the fashionista weren't you?! I love the dress with the tie (I had a similar one) and your white handbag. It was also nice to see a Nun in the last pic :) x

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    1. Hasn't everyone got a nun in their family? That's my Mum's older sister Sheila - she was teaching nun out in the Lebanon at that time, now she's semi retired in Ipswich.
      That white handbag had a picture of David Cassidy on it - he was my favourite!

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  6. hello!
    this is a lovely post and it's so sweet that angela made you a photo album. your outfits are awesome - i would wear that poncho... and i think you should get back into wearing mini dresses. one of my closest friends, sally, died from breast cancer in her early thirties - i think of her often. x

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    1. I could totally see you in that poncho! I think I must have had extra nice dresses for our big trip - don't remember looking so fancy most of the time!

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  7. What a beautiful tribute to your aunt. She sounds like a wonderful woman. You've shared her with us, so now her wonderful qualities have spread like ripples all over the world.

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  8. Beautiful done! ...my early childhood pic's look like yours too x

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