RIP Mike

A very good friend of ours died last week, of a brain tumour. His tumour was diagnosed 18 months ago, and he was given 6 months to live, so he did well to hang on so long.

Mike was nearly 20 years older than me (literally old enough to be my dad) but was one of those people who seemed age-less. Perhaps that's what happens when you don't have kids? He and his wife of 37 years had an incredibly strong bond, and she will be bereft without him.

Mike was a talented photographer, and took the photos at our wedding, nearly 15 years ago. I looked at our album last weekend, and added up a grim toll: my father, died 1999 aged 63, cancer; our best man, died 2005 aged 41, MS; S's grandmother, died a few months ago, old age (82) complicated by cancer; and now Mike (60). Not to mention my sister ('best woman' at our wedding) having breast cancer, though, thankfully she is a cancer survivor.

It's a reminder to me that I have to live the life I have, and make the most of it.