Yesterday I focused on how Gaia had this inner core sense of self and was uninhibited in her approach to life, unsurprisingly this spilled across all areas of her life.

Clara, her elder sister, described how loving Gaia was. She described a loved one being in a bad place and how Gaia responded:

‘The last time I saw Gaia, she was on the edge of a breakdown, despite that she was taking the time to try and listen… she was saying ‘it’ll be ok, you’ll be ok, we love you, I understand’.

That’s even through her own pain, she was able to be like that. It was such a strong thing to do, so many people in their own difficulties are thinking about self and not so much other people’.

Both Clara and Maya talked about how naturally thoughtful and encouraging Gaia was. How she put others ahead of herself, really listened to people and provided constant encouragement and love. Maya reflected on a time in her life where she was suffering badly:

‘I was doing all the wrong things… Gaia was just very encouraging all the time, really positive all the time, she brought out my better self when I was around her… everything in my life… I guess I’ve been quite good at failing, all the parts where I excelled and did really well, she was always behind me.

She was always that person for me… everything I did, I did for her, not for myself really. She was really good at pushing people, in such a positive way. She never wanted me to feel bad about myself and I felt the same way about her’.

Maya also recalled how intuitive and loving Gaia was. She had several examples of how Gaia was outwardly loving, she mentioned how she had her first ‘boyfriend’ when they were about 5 and Gaia was very huggy, she continued:

‘Gaia was confident, super loving, loving is a key word… she was super kind, very attentive.

If a kid fell over in the playground she was the first one there, she’d be getting someone immediately, she was aware of that stuff…

She saved the lunch lady’s life you know. She was diabetic and needed something, I don’t know… she could tell there was something wrong with the lunch lady. She was only 6 or 7 when she did that… she was hyper intuitive… she was loving, caring and outwardly so’.

This theme came up in all the conversations I had, not just how loving Gaia was, but also her preparedness to love outwardly, to act on her feelings and not hold back. Kim, Gaia’s mum, described how she had suffered a bleed on her brain, a subarachnoid haemorrhage, when her girls were in their teens, and how supportive they were.

Talking about Gaia, Kim recalled:

‘Her love was so big for everyone you know… but she’d act on it… she’d do things for people, her friends and family. She was a great support for others, at her own expense sometimes.

[Kim stops for a moment and then adds…]

She felt she could make a difference and she did. She made a difference, because she was Gaia. It was impossible for her not to make a difference’.

Talia, Kim’s aunt, also echoed this sense of Gaia being loving and intuitive. She described how when her and Kim were clearing their parent’s house after they died, she came across a poem that Gaia had written at primary school, they reckoned she’d have been 7 or 8 when she wrote it.

Kim speaks across Talia in her keenness to expand further, she comments:

‘She had a pulse of humanity beyond her years… her insight was phenomenal’.

Gaia’s nanny had been so taken with this poem that she recorded it onto a CD. Kim and Talia both highlight how we should listen to our young people and how concerned they are for the environment and our planet, and a focus on harmony, justice and peace.

We’ll end today with Gaia’s poem from primary school:

If once

If once the earth no trembles are made,

the earth was it come to peace,

I’d help the poor that remained.

So many lives that have been taken,

for justice has been made.

Put down your guns, swords and weapons,

make peace throughout the land –

then there is harmony, justice and peace throughout the world.

Bless those eyes; such lack of sleep,

rest them, child, mother and father.

If once the world no trembles are made,

sleep the world away

                                                      Gaia Pope-Sutherland