Last night I rang my Aunt – sadly her husband passed away on Monday night. Now, I am incredibly close to this particular Aunt and my cousins because as children we were all pretty much brought up together.

Two of my cousins have flown in from overseas to be with their mum during this time and so my Aunt has managed to change the funeral to next Thursday – my problem being I have physio on a Thursday.

When I went to physio this week I explained the situation, how close I am to my Aunt and how important it is to me to attend this funeral so I can be there to support her. The physio did that look that you get from mechanics when you take your car to the garage and ask for the quote, the ‘sharp intake of breath through the teeth’ one.

“Sorry”, she said shaking her head, “you just have to have the physio, you can’t afford to miss next week”. She went on to say that my arm is very stiff and needs to be used, exercised and have the physio regularly. Unfortunately, because the funeral is so far from where I live, an appointment at the beginning or the end of the session wouldn’t help as  I wouldn’t be able to get there in time.

So, Last night I rang my Aunt – of course being the way she is, she completely understood and expected me to attend my appointment, which is lovely, but it doesn’t help the fact that I wanted to be there for her. I also miss the chance to see my cousins, which now they are overseas happens very rarely.

This takes the arm from being a painful inconvenience to a thief, robbing my attending the funeral, supporting my Aunt and seeing my cousins.