Gwendolyn

My cousin Gwendolyn and I have been extremely close since I was a child despite the fact that she is about 15 years older than me. Although she has lived in Australia for over twenty years we have always kept in touch and she always makes an effort to visit when she's in New Zealand. So it was a great excitement that she came to stay with her mother in Waipukurau on Christmas Day for three weeks as it meant we'd be able to phone each other more frequently and have a couple of get togethers.

Last Tuesday was muggy and pouring with rain but in the afternoon Gwendolyn drove out with her niece Melissa. It was so wonderful to see her after two years and I showed them round the cottage before we ended up in the sitting room looking through drawings and photos and having a great old chat. I had made tea and we were about to drink this when Melissa remarked that she felt faint. Gwen sent her outside to sit under the back carport as she thought it was just from a lack of fresh air. A couple of minutes later we heard a crash and found Melissa had completely passed out on the concrete. Gave us both a terrible fright let alone Melissa who was covered with dirt and very disorientated.

Gwen helped her into a chair while I fetched a glass of water. Melissa's face was clammy and grey and her lips blue and I thought she had had a hypoglycaemic attack, especially when she admitted she hadn't eaten anything that day. Gwen managed to help her inside to the sofa where she lay for an hour until she felt better. Despite this is was a wonderful three hour visit and I was so sad to see Gwen leave but she promised to meet me again in Waipukurau the next day where I had an appointment.

Sure enough we met in town at 2pm the next day and after my appointment had a quick look at Electra Gallery before Gwen, my brother Richard and I went to have afternoon tea at Cafe Nourish round the corner. We ended up staying there for nearly two hours chatting about family stuff. Rich also asked her about her spiritual work which amazed me as he doesn't believe in such things but Gwen pulled out some beautiful angel cards from her purse and we spend a good long time looking at these. The artwork was amazing. Too soon it was time to say goodbye and although she doesn't leave till Sunday I won't be able to get to see Gwen again until her next trip home.