Love, Rosie (235 page)

you
it’s
going
to
be
OK
and
that
they’ll
support
you,
you
know
it’s
not
the

end
of
the
world.
But
depending
on
the
parents,
it
could
have
been
pretty

damn
close.

love,
rosie

349

Parents
are
the
barometers
of
emotions
for
children
and
it
has
a
domino

effect.
I
had
never
seen
my
mum
cry
so
much
in
all
of
my
life
which
scared

me
and
made
me
cry
which
scared
Katie
and
made
her
cry.
We
all
cried

together.

As
for
Dad,
he
was
supposed
to
live
forever.
The
one
who
could
open
all

the
jar
lids
nobody
else
could,
who
fixed
whatever
was
broken,
was
sup-

posed
to
do
that
forever.
The
man
who
let
me
sit
on
his
shoulders,
climb
on

his
back,
chase
me
around
while
making
monster
noises,
throw
me
in
the

air
and
catch
me,
spin
me
around
so
much
until
I
felt
dizzy
and
fell
over

laughing.

And
in
the
end
without
being
able
to
say
thank
you
and
a
proper
good-

bye,
my
final
memories
of
him
turn
into
coffin
sizes
and
medical
forms.

I’m
still
over
in
Galway
with
Mum.
In
the
wild,
wild
West.
But
it’s
a

beautiful
summer
and
it
doesn’t
feel
quite
right.
The
atmosphere
doesn’t

suit
the
mood,
there’s
the
sound
of
children’s
laughter
floating
up
from
the

beach
down
below,
there
are
birds
singing
and
dancing
around
the
sky,

swooping
low
and
catching
their
fresh
meals
from
the
sea.
It
doesn’t
feel

right
to
love
the
world
and
see
such
brightness
when
something
so
awful

has
happened.

It’s
like
hearing
gurgling
babies
echoing
in
the
church
at
the
funeral.

There’s
nothing
more
uplifting
than
to
hear
the
sound
of
an
innocent
child

being
so
happy
in
a
place
that
people
are
sad.
It
reminds
you
that
life
goes
on

and
on
and
on,
just
not
for
the
one
you’re
saying
good-bye
to.
People
come

and
people
go
and
we
know
this
happens,
yet
we
get
such
a
shock
when
it

does.
To
use
that
old
cliché,
the
only
certainty
in
life
is
death.
It’s
a
certainty,

it’s
the
one
condition
of
living
that
we’re
given
but
we
often
let
it
tear
us

apart.

I
don’t
know
what
to
do
or
say
to
Mum
to
make
her
feel
better;
I
don’t

suppose
there
really
is
anything
that
would
accomplish
that
but
watching
her

crying
to
herself
all
day
tears
me
apart.
I
can
hear
her
pain
in
her
tears.

Maybe
she’ll
just
run
out
of
tears.