It's what comes from family, our closest of friends, from knowing there are certain truths in which we can place our trust.

It gives us that bedrock from which we can go out into the world every day and tackle life, where we can find some degree of acceptance in the mistakes we make within the context of the moral guideposts that inform our decision making.

Family can provide this without us even knowing it, for the lessons in life and love are formed so gradually over the years, in layer-upon-layer of experiences and support.

IN OTHER NEWS:

And because this is is such a gradual journey, the impact of it all going terribly awry can put ordinary people on the precipice of a life nigh on destroyed.

That's what happens when someone you love is lost in the most tragic of circumstances.

Almost two decades ago, the family of Corowa grandmother Yvonne Strachan had their world upended in such an unforgiving way.

One moment she was wrapping Christmas presents with her daughter and granddaughter, the next, it felt, they were being broken the unbelievable news.

Her life had been treated with the ultimate disrespect of murder, her throat cut and her body left to float in the Murray River.

MORE OPINION

No one then knew what happened and now, 18 years later, the mystery remains.

But there is always someone who knows something and yet won't come forward, for whatever personal motivations.

We have seen this happen before in the Border region, with the unsolved murders of Bronwynne Richardson and David Beer.

For most of us who only know of these events through the media, it is easy to turn the page on a new day and move on

For the family of Mrs Strachan, this cannot even be considered until her killer is found.

Anyone with information about this unsolved murder must come forward because if they don't, Yvonne Strachan's loved ones' lives truly will remain suspended in time.