At peace...

photo of Mum at Mum and Dad's 60th wedding anniversary back in August 2019

I've been very quiet, I know.  Various reasons, to be honest, but mostly due these past few months to major family health worries.  This culminated last month in a sudden worsening of Mum's health; she was taken back into hospital, where she passed away on the 16th April at the age of 85.  Adrian and I travelled south on the 19th and although he came back home again for a few days, I stayed with Dad until Tuesday of last week.

Mum's funeral was on 10th May.  It was a lovely service, with readings and music "chosen" by Mum.  When going through her things, we discovered lots of little notes that she had made over time of songs and hymns that she liked, along with some prayers too.  My Dad wrote a beautiful eulogy, which my sister and I then "tweaked" only very slightly.  We were blessed that the weather was good, too ~ warm and sunny.

I really can't praise the funeral directors, Neville Funerals, highly enough.  The staff were so incredibly kind, and looked after all of us wonderfully, both in the lead up to the funeral and on the day itself.  When Mum finally came back to their chapel of rest Dad was able to visit her every day.  My sister and I also visited Mum before the funeral, as did Sam and Beverly.  Amanda and I did have some reservations to be honest, as we both still have memories of how our Grandma looked.  However, Neville's staff are obviously very skilled and Mum still looked very much "like Mum".

  Although Mum and Dad had been together for some 67 years, he nevertheless seems to be coping well with this sudden change to his life.  I know that he misses her terribly, but I believe he is content that she is now at peace.  He is getting some routines back into his life, and is keeping busy catching up with the little jobs that he was unable to do over the last months of Mum's life. 

It's a little hard to believe that it's now almost five weeks since Mum passed away; it's very true that no matter what events are taking place in one's own little world, life just keeps marching on around us.