Mahalia

What Gavin meant to me.....

My uncle Gav was a great man. I never spent a lot of time with him, but i know that he loved me. One of my best memories is when he took Josie and i to Clovelly beach. The waves were really big and scary, which were very intimidating for six year old girls. But uncle Gav stood infront of Josie and i, to protect us. Even though the waves were towering over us, i felt as safe as i possibly could. We had so much fun at that beach, and five years on, i can still remember it.

When i was told that Gav had passed away i didn't believe it at first. How could my uncle that had survived so long pass away? I told my parents that i needed to do something, and that they had to pull over on to the side of the road (we were driving to Sydney to visit him at the time). I had taken a yellow flower (to represent happiness) from our garden before we left the house, i then got out of the car and placed the flower in a small tree next to a stream. I whispered to him "i will take care of your family, no matter what". That was my goodbye to him. We then drove a little bit down the road and stopped at a small convenience store. Next to it was a small herd of cows that were grazing quietly. We got out a footy (Gav loved his footy) and started to pass and kick it around. That was our family's goodbye to Gav.

Gav we all love you so much and you've done more in your 43 years of life then most people have in 90 years. Thank you for being a great uncle to me!

From your niece, Mahalia xoxo