(no subject)

My mother died just before dawn this morning. reynardo and I had been planning to go down to Canberra tonight for an early Christmas celebration with the family, but my brother called yesterday and told us to hurry down. We got in about 10:30 pm last night and went straight to the hospital. She wasn't really conscious, but she responded a bit when people talked and I think she knew I was there. My father stayed at the hospital overnight, and was with her when she died.

( Cut for medical stuff. )

The final stages were so quick that most of her friends and family didn't have a chance to say goodbye. At least one of them seems to have taken this amiss; I'm going to have to explain that no, we weren't concealing stuff, it really was that quick. All in all, I'm glad that it was; I know she didn't want to linger, and she was herself up until the end.

I'm very sad, but coping. I've been steeling myself for a long time now, and it makes a huge difference having reynardo here, and the support of many good friends elsewhere. There may well be some extended-family shenanigans over the funeral arrangements, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.