Tuesday, March 21, 2006

colds are GROSS




I hate colds. They are so disgusting. I think this is the worst one I've ever had cos I'm just so blocked up I can't even hear out of one of my ears. I feel miserable and cold (it's raining) and I want to lie on the couch at my old house drinking one of Mum's hot lemon and honey drinks and listening to classical music. Isn't it weird how one always knows exactly what one wants when one can't have it!

Here are some more photos from up north. The top I just took out of the airplane window. I tried taking quite a lot of photos from the planes but unfortunately on both flights most of the land was obscured by cloud--although I did get some cool cloudy ones too! This was taken as we flew over the hills near Kaikoura. The other two are from Piha, again, with my feet, again. :)

Recently, the father of a girl I knew at school died suddenly of a massive heart attack. He was in his early forties and very fit and healthy, so it was a complete shock. My friends and I were talking about it and one of them happened to say that they thought that was the worst way for someone to die, in terms of the effect on the family. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I've come to the conclusion that it is evident she has never had to watch someone she loves die slowly. It makes me quite angry when people make these flip generalisations when they can't even fathom what it's like to be in either situation. Because there was some relief involved when my Mum actually died, they assume it's much easier to lose her than if it had been a complete shock. I'm not the sort of person who describes in graphic detail to my friends what it's like to see my mother slowly deteriorate so some of them just don't understand. I guess I don't really expect them to. But I do expect people not to assume they can understand just like that, and not to make things so simple, so black and white.

2 comments:

Patty said...

Great photos.

Nasty cold, go away!

Any death is sad, ect. no matter the circumstances(But of course I'm speaking with no experience so I could be totally wrong about all this). I've had no one close to me die. I can sympathize & try to understand, but never completely understand how someone feels after they've lost someone or are losing someone. I knew of a very healthy athletic dad who died playing basketball. Just fell over & died. It made me realize even seemingly very healthy people are at risk. I knew the son of the man who died, but I could never even fathom what he felt. I could guess & try to imagine, but never back that up with my own experience. Even if my dad had died in the exact same way as his dad, I may be able to relate a lot easier, but everyone is different in how they process feelings, emotions, etc., so if I came to some conclusion of how I believed he felt, I may be very wrong in how I think he's feeling.

I'm not sure if that's what you were trying to say in your post, but anyway...

Have a groovy fun day!

Allie said...

Patty, I so agree. It's no use trying to compare deaths and say, this one was harder and this one is easier, this one was accepted and this wasn't... whatever. Everyone is so different. There are some things I have in common now with other people who have lost somebody... for example, the annoyance at the way people who hardly know you act when they see you at the funeral or something... but there's just no way everyone is going to go through similar things in the same way.