I have posted a copy of this letter to each of you.
I wanted to write you a short note about your Mother.

I guess as our parents get older we know the time is going to come when they are no longer with us.
It is always a sad time but that is the way life is.

I think we are lucky to have had our parents especially our Mothers for as long as we did.
That means we have lots of great memories and we can bring them out any time we wish.

Your Mother was interested in everything and that made her interesting.

I didn't have much contact with her over the years but she always asked Mother how we were going up here in Cairns.
She always wanted to know about Brett and his career and what Tanya was doing.

I always received a card at Christmas with a newsy note inside about what she was doing for Christmas and how many of the family would be there.

She even rang Mother and reminded her when it was our 25th Wedding Anniversary!!

Brett was born at 2.20pm on February 5th 1975 in Melbourne.
At 9.00am the next morning I received a card with a lovely note in saying how clever I was to have a baby on such a special day - she always referred to Brett as her twin!
On his 21st birthday she wrote him a lovely letter and Brett was quite touched because as he said, they had only met a few times.
I said to him at the time that it didn't matter that she hardly knew him, he was family and she was truly interested in him.

Also, although it was a very long time ago I think she nursed Tanya before my Mother did!!

Some people may have thought she was fussy but I loved her attention to detail - I have seen some wedding photos in my time that would never have been allowed if she had been around!!
Crooked handbags - trees growing out of heads!!

When I was a young girl I spent heaps of time at Hannay street and I have fond memories of Granparents, Aunts and Uncles and lots of cousins - watermelon in the back yard, sing songs, the wood pile down the back that we pretended was a ship.

I also remember wondering how I was going to escape from an Aunty Audrey "sloppy chops kiss"!!
Looking back - how could I not have loved it - she really loved us all!!

Aunty Audrey sent me a lovely letter when my Mother died saying how much she would miss her - the three sisters were great friends, weren't they, even though they were so different.

I just wanted you all to know that your Mother was special to me too.

Love to you all.
Sharon.