Joan Mair was one of those people in your life where you wonder how such a nice person can actually exist. Perhaps it the world I have built up around myself but there always seems to be so many threads of negativity that run through society that I cannot understand how being persistently nice is actually bearable. Perhaps this is indeed a point I am not getting. In any case Joan, the cousin of my grandmother (on my mother’s side), passed away a couple of weeks ago and was laid to rest after years battling Parkinson’s disease. In retrospect is seems strange that her and I spent so much time together, but her influence over the years has left me with a real sense of the importance of family. I guess I considered her a friend and someone I could talk to growing up. I wish I had spent more time gleaning her pearls of wisdom, but I guess that is always the case. Although I made the decision not to travel back to Australia for the funeral, and I saw her just a few weeks before she passed away and thus was happy that we had exchanged a couple of laughs one more time. So to this end I leave her a note –some of the things I should have told her but never got around to.
Dear Joan,
Thanks for the good times and the operatic education - I am still have difficulty separating my Puccini from my Verdi, but the book you gave me will always be a part of my collection so you needn’t despair. The clear memory of Noels and yourself in the house with the garden in the cliff will always remain, as will the famous Christmas pudding, which despite my consumption of many others has never been matched. May you rest in peace in the knowledge that in addition to the many accomplishments with your immediate family and community, your legacy was to show one boy; adolescent; young man; (dare I say adult male), that to bring happiness to others brings happiness to oneself. May I continue to grow in a way that you would have been proud. Say hi to Noels from me.
Your Mate,
Anton
