Day 29: Mum's blue cubes

Eilee babes 70th, 2016

I awoke this morning to a gorgeous message from my Aunty Eilee - known affectionately as Eilee Babes  - one of Mum's younger sisters. She'd been thinking of me and reminding me that Mum is with me in spirit throughout this process. It was such a thoughtful message, so typical of Eilee who has been a tower of strength for all of us since Mum died, and a constant support to me in the last few months. Eilee is one in a million, she is such a positive person, with a bubbly personality who has a great ability to see the funny side of life and makes others see it too.

Eilee's message made me reach for a pair of Mum earrings - bronze and silver squares with a blue crystal insert. The pedigree of these are vague. Lindy inherited them when Mum died, but then generously handed them on to me recently, to add to the collection. We think maybe one of us bought them for Mum as a gift, but we can't remember. What we can both remember is Mum wearing them, and this, along with Eilee's message, makes me feel very close to her today.

The Napier girls with impressive fringes, Eilee in gloves

Eilee is the second of four girls alongside Mum, Margie and Suzie; the daughter of soft, gentle Harry and vivacious, fun-loving Clare (who deserves and will get at some point a blog post all to herself - as she would want!). Eilee's been the most committed and loving wife to Gerry, who has in turn been a very supportive Uncle to me. A late night bet in 1989 with Gerry that if I could gain a first class honours degree, he'd buy me a Gucci watch, gave me determination and left him sorely out of pocket! He's encouraged me on in my career ever since, but we've never entered another bet.

The Kelly Gang, Sally and Martin's wedding 2014

Eilee is an amazing Mum to five fabulous children, my cousins, Matt, Brigid. Katie, Martin and Gerra. Katie has rightly been in the spotlight in recent years with her Paralympic triathlon gold medal, OAM, and other incredible accolades, but she sits among a talented and closely bonded family who are all highly successful in their own fields. Together they are creating their own expansive next generation with 11 children between them, making Eilee an incredibly busy grandmother.

I love this photo of the Chappell's celebrating Christmas with the Kelly Gang and Suzie and Pete at Nanna Clare's sometime in the mid 1970s. It captures Gerry's in a turtleneck (on Christmas day?? I suppose it was Armidale) Eilee and Lindy with their purple paper crowns, and Ree, aged about 10 or 11 wearing a dress with a Southern Comfort motif! What was Mum thinking?





Often I take it for granted that I'm part of a sprawling tribe but right now I'm feeling such support and love from every quarter, such as Eilee's message today, and feel very grateful for it.

Day 29 (99 to go!) was a good one. My energy went up another notch. Our divine cleaner Chris did all the hard work and left the place sparkling - at least for the hour before the boys got home. I was able to concentrate on work for the morning, inching closer to finishing a long overdue journal article. A great conversation with Andy this morning, followed by a visit from Lizzie and Deb this afternoon connected me with wonderful friends. And as an added bonus jigsaw puzzle queen Deb helped sort out some key pieces of my puzzle.  Dearest Kate and Betty sent gorgeous flowers and a message of encouragement.

I also think I made Dad's day. He's an alternative health advocate whose advice I often ignore, but I did remember him telling me some months ago about the benefits of coconut oil as a mouth cleanser due to its antibacterial qualities. Two days ago, I started developing an ulcerated tongue - a common side effect of the treatment - which was becoming painful. After trying various chemist bought lotions and potions, I turned to the coconut oil, and bingo, tonight they've almost disappeared, just at the point when my immunity is reaching it's lowest point, and technically they should be getting worse. When Dad called today and I told him the news he had the grace not to say "I told you so"!