My beloved, beautiful mother died suddenly and unexpectedly of pulmonary thromboembolism.   She, like most of us, didn't ever think this could happen in ordinary life and only considered the possibility just before she was getting on a flight and would call me to talk me through her aspirin and flight socks routine (and tell me off for not doing the same).
It's deeply important to me that you all think about steps you can take to make sure this never happens to you or anyone you love. 
This is the last picture we took together - just a few short weeks before her death.  I am very grateful for such a perfect day with her under the grey blues of the Norfolk sky at Sea Palling, a (rarely) sandy beach she and Nick had discovered and which I had the enjoyment of being introduced to by her in 2007.   She swam in the cold sea while I performed jelly-fish rescue for all the tiny stranded beings on the beach.  We both made jokes about the eccentricities of the other.

Ruth