Life goes on. That’s what people say isn’t it. They’re right of course, life does indeed go on. Like waves to the shore the tide doesn’t stop for a moment, or even pause for thought. And where the sun is setting, somewhere else in the world it’s rising on a new dawn, proving the cliche, as if proof were needed, that regardless of all things life goes on.

It’s coming up to a month since my sister-in-law, Kate, died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage. Her death has thrown my idle thoughts into disarray. It’s like I’m gazing at my life as if it were an intricate painting that’s been hanging silently in a gallery waiting to be given something more than passing attention. Who is the painter here? What is the story behind this work? And in a world full of masterpieces I find myself wondering who will care to look at this picture when I too am gone?

Faces from faded pictures stare back at us from times gone by, and while we may share the names of the people from our past, our future might know little about them. My Grandfathers death made me wonder about who his Grandfather was and how it was that of all the things I might have known about that man, I actually knew nothing of him.

I didn’t really know Kate that well. She was only married to Pete for a little over two years. I thought I had all the time in the world to get to know her as my sister-in-law. But here I am looking at her face in a photograph smiling back at me from the past, knowing that she will remain this way forever now, locked in time, never to grow old with those who had only just started calling her family.

Life goes on I guess. But forgive me if I lag behind a little, I’m just looking at this painting, trying to find something behind the brush strokes.

For now, this video is my tribute to Kate. I made it last week and put it on a DVD for my brother. He said I could share it online, so this then is my memorial to my sister-in-law, Kate Jones.

Brothers in arms