Friday 1 January 2016

Goodbye David Willis

2015 ended on a low note with the death of my cousin David at 5:30pm Thursday 31st December.

He been diagnosed with terminal cancer in the summer of 2014 and given 3 months to live. He surprised me and many others by living for another 18 months and everyone got to cherish his kindness and passion for life during those precious months. His death was announced later in the evening on his Facebook wall and the tributes on there are testimony to the lives he touched.

David is my mum's cousin and her childhood friend as they spent holidays together. As my parents aren't regulars on FB, I was the one to break the news of David's death to her this morning when I phoned her. That wasn't a pleasant experience. Loss, even when expected, remains painful.

I'll remember David from various family get-togethers as a kind, gentle soul who in his own idiosyncratic matter lived his life on his terms. Traits that I could do a little more of in 2016 onwards. 

Goodbye David, it remains lovely to have known you.