The Sun Still Comes Up

Laurise Apryl Blechynden (nee Stedman)

April 6, 1945 – March 16, 2015

           A Tribute To A Sister

The sun still comes up

Traverses the sky

Then goes down

But it seems not as bright

Or as warm...

            The daily and seasonal routines provide a certain comfortable familiarity. In the same way as the meals we eat and even the drinks we have. There’s familiarity with family. Yet as we grow older our views change of them and of ourselves. It seems they’ll always be a part of our lives and in a way it’s true.

Today the feelings are sadness intermingled with grieving and everything seems surreal. From today there will be no more chats with my ‘big’ sister who was always 'there' from the day I was born.

She’s now joined the women who helped shape her young life and set the example to which she lived. There are many poignant reminders of those years that we had, mingled with a very healthy dose of earthy humour.

She was the eldest daughter of a Digger and a country girl. I'm proud to have been counted as family with her and it goes without saying I will miss the wonderfulness of who she was. Her humanity and caring. Her laughter and compassion. The sparkle in her eyes when she shared stories of the family she started with her husband almost fifty one years ago.

The beauty she created in her home and garden. The love and pride she bestowed on her children and grandchildren. She loved the land and lived for the vocation she’d chosen to share with her husband and later her children and their partners.

For eighteen months she remained strong and positive with each new diagnosis and treatment until in the end she chose rest. To go home to the Lord. A couple of days before her passing I felt a presence and a warm sense of peace which was always felt in her presence.

R.I.P. Apryl, my dear sister.