Good Bye Baba

Word has reached me that Betty Gill, my mother-in-law has passed. She was 84. And another link to Jan fades away.

Baba (as she was affectionately known) was the Gazda in the Gill family. I don’t know exactly how Gazda translates, but Sloko, my late father-in-law, called her that. Undoubtedly it was Ukrainian in origin and meant she ruled the roost.

Betty was a great lady. She had more than a little influence on raising Mick. Jan’s dying hit her hard of course. It’s tough enough to lose one’s spouse. But to lose your child, regardless the age, it’s just not in the seeming order of things.

Words cannot express my sadness at her passing. She had a big heart and was proud of her Slovak heritage. She accepted me into the family and always went out of her way to make me feel at home in her house.

I’ll miss her and I know Mick will miss his Baba.

I’ve been reading “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” lately and it has made Betty’s passing and Jan’s too even more meaningful, if that is possible.

Tsamaya Sentle Baba(Travel Well)