Farewell Kristine

I was shocked and saddened today to receive an email that my friend Kristine in the US died today. Kristine is one of the mums on my oct98 list that I joined when pregnant with Ryan, so I've 'known' her for 9 years or so. Kris was a loving mum to three great kids, Granger, Kayla (Ryan's age) and Walter (just a day older than Bethany). She was a thoughtful person who always had useful insights and advice whenever someone on 'the list' had a problem or question. She struggled at times to feel comfortable with herself but always her love for her kids shone through. I don't know yet why she died but she had been complaining of chest pains (although she had tests and they'd found nothing).
It seems a bit phony to be crying about someone dying on the other side of the world who I've not met, but I did know her, and I know her children through her emails. I am so sad for them - Granger, the teenager who will now grow up so much quicker than he should, and Kayla and Walter, who will never again get a cuddle from their mummy.
My children got plenty of extra cuddles tonight, that's for sure.

One nice thing is that Kris blogged, so her kids will always have memories of her and how important they were to her through that. Our list, I'm sure, as we did for Adele who also died, will make copies of Kris's relevant emails and make a little memento book for the family. This is difficult to do (re-reading all those emails) and I daresay it's something that they wouldn't be able to read for quite some time, but again it's a nice picture of the sort of person Kris was.

As Beth said when she let us know:
She was a wonderful person, a generous friend, a loving and playful mother. She was
always full of life and ready to help anyone, anywhere.

Goodbye, Kris. I'm so sorry for those left behind.