On Friday, my brother was married. It was a wonderful day. All the family was together. None of us realised that it would be for the last time. At six thirty pm last night, my beautiful, wonderful Mother passed away. It was very sudden, very quick, and a great shock, just a bolt from the blue. I was there to hold her and am so glad to have been able to spend those moments with her. I'm also glad that the last full day of her life was one of her happiest, and that even as she died, she was talking of packing for a holiday that, sadly, she and my Dad will never take. I'm currently in shock, my Dad is inconsolable, as you would be after 52 years of marriage to someone as fantastic as my Mam. Things always seem more real when written down and just writing this has helped a tiny bit to come to terms with this seismic event in all the family's lives. Sleep tight, Mammy.