A Sad Day To Die

I have no feelings toward Jade Goody at all, neither love nor malice, though it is always sad when somebody's loved one passes away.
What I do feel today is empathy for her two sons. Now, they are possibly too young to fully understand what has happened and thus deal with the grief over their mother's death. Over the next few years though, as they grow up and become more aware of life and what they are missing, that is when their grief may truly hit them. I know it did with me.
My dad died when I was 7 and so I don't remember having a dad around much at all. So, when I was young, I didn't really "miss" it. It was only upon becoming an adult and realising all the things that my father could have told me and taught me, that I began to realise what I had missed out on. That was when the grief really struck me.
Another unhappy affinity I have with Jade's two boys is that my mother too died around Mother's Day. In 1998 my mum was in hospital after learning she had inoperable cancer. She died the day after Mothering Sunday and I have disliked the day, and the incessant media advertising blitz that accompanies it, ever since. I hope that the boys will not find this media insensitivity too hard to bear over the rest of their lives. And I hope that the media leaves them alone to live normal lives out of the spotlight.
Good luck boys, many people's thoughts are with you today.