However, I needed to be anything but when I had to face the passing of my mother in law, Lilla Capuano.

At the time of her passing, I posted the following message on my forum (at the time it was the PHP forum);

At 8.15am this morning, my mother in law Lilla Capuano passed away. She has been battling cancer for some time now and she was admitted to hospital for the last time just after the new year. We knew it was only a matter of time when she was hospitalised in August last year and had to have a colostomy (sp?) bag fitted after the cancer got to her colon. It had already hit her lungs and she had a quarter removed a couple of years ago. But it was too late. The cancer had entered her blood stream and after the colon operation no form of radiotherapy - let alone khemo - was possible. We (myself and my wife Lee) arrived at the hospital at around 9.15am. We'd got the message at 7.30am that her tempreture was shooting up, and we left home as quickly as we could. But I doubt even with a car that we would have made it in time. Lilla was always a strong willed person. She and Lee were very close and Lee had been visiting her at home throughout the latter stages of 2004 twice a week. Lilla did well to last as long as she did, but I think once Christmas went by that was it. She couldn't go anymore. The best part about the whole thing is that she went quickly, quietly and with a minimum of fuss and most importantly pain. Lilla leaves three children. Aside from Lee, there is her brother Paul and sister Kim. There are also four grand children. Also two in laws (myself and Paul's wife Kellie) and Kim's de facto Andrew. The funeral takes place at the Springvale Crematorium tommorrow (Friday January 21) at 3.30pm.

Lee turned to jelly as a result of her mother's passing. I don't know how I would have coped if that had happened during the winter. Luckily I was able to provide as much comfort as I could, and I think I did OK - and Lee confirmed that when she was asked what the best thing was in her life to try and get her thinking positive thoughts.

Having the support of my husband.

I said it at the time and I'll repeat it now - Awwwwwwwww!

2005 was a pretty rough year for Lee, but she came out of it. We planned to see a lot more of my family, but our move to the country in September of that year made that more difficult.