I vaguely recall walking out the chapel and people watching us. People came up to us and offered their condolences. The Mitchells and the Dorans hugged each other: Two families who had lost a loved one on the same day and were laid to rest at the same place.
I don’t remember driving back to my parents’ home. I do recall people everywhere. I couldn’t cope. I had to go outside for some fresh air.
Dave, a friend of Eamonn’s, and I started to chat. Dave looks like a Bikie -- long beard, black clothes, overweight, front teeth missing, tattoos. Quite frankly, if you saw him in the street, you would probably run the other way.
Dave is actually a “gentle giant.” He put his arm around me and we went for a walk around the acreage He was very comforting to me and even made me laugh a few times. There was something about Dave that was hidden by his outside appearance. This man was an intelligent, loving soul. We talked a lot about death that day.
Six months later, Dave was dead. He had developed ‘galloping leukemia’ and died within two days. When I learnt about this, I was absolutely devastated. Here was this beautiful soul spending his time, his last days on earth comforting me, and now he was dead, too.
