Day 4 - So far so good!

I was chatting to K in the kitchen at work yesterday, she works in a different department but we recently did a project together and got to know each other a bit better as we bonded over a bit of a crisis!  As I was about to leave the she said "ah well its day 3 and you're still here".

"Indeed I am" said I touching wood for good measure!  Well you can never be too careful!

This made me giggle and harked back to a conversation we had a while ago about Christmas and the January blues.  January is my least favourite month of the year for many reasons.  Firstly it is so dull and dark and once all the decorations come down it just makes it feel worse.  On top of this it seems to be the month that people in my family and people I love pass away.  I had told K this and explained that I am convinced that when my time comes it will be in January, in whatever year it happens to be.  I am hoping it won't be this January, or next, indeed I'm hoping it won't be for a good few years yet, but when my number is up that's when it will be!  Because of this I utter a huge sigh of relief on February the first every year safe in the knowledge that I'm probably good for another year.  Crazy I know.

In my defence my crazy theory is based in reason and is not just a totally random thing I came up with.  I am also equally convinced that when my Mum's time is up it will also be in January of whatever year we are in.  If this does happen, from that day on I will be hibernating for the entire month of January every year!  Its the Loftus genes you see, although technically I suppose it would be the Wilshire genes, well that's as far back as I'm aware of currently anyway.

It started with my Great Nan, she was quite a character.  The expression 'Formidable Woman' could have been coined for her.  She was the first in a long line.  It has been said many times that I have a very large proportion of her genes.  I am a Loftus in lots of ways, the nose, the temperament, the bloody mindedness to name just a few!

Evelyn Maud Loftus passed away on January 1st 1985.  We all joked at the time that it was so like her to have insisted on hanging on to see another year before she finally gave in.  Stubborn to the end, and always on her terms.   My lovely Nanny Marshfield.  I will write more about her in another post, she was quite a woman!

Her Daughter was my beloved Nan!! I miss her so much still! When she was poorly I never doubted she would see Christmas, I knew she would, because I knew it would be January.  Sure enough she left us on 5th January 2003.  She was another incredible woman!  Are you seeing the pattern here?  My Grandad did pass away in September, but then he had a different gene pool so that explains that.

I am the first of my generation, the oldest Grandchild and also the oldest Great Grandchild.  Next down from me is H, he came along 363 days after me, almost a year to the day.  He passed away in January 2011.  Next was my cousin T, he is also next down from me in the Grandchild order too, he passed away in January 2011.  Starting to see a picture here?  I don't seem quite so bonkers now huh?

Is it any wonder I question my mortality every January?  Given that I'm the oldest in my generation and the next two are gone already!

So for now I will remember them all and smile, and say day 4 and so far so good........

Cxx