the last word

As you can imagine its been a tough time with my mum's death. One of the most shattering parts has been dealing with family. I'm the youngest of 8 children, but I seem to be one of the most sensible which doesnt say much for the rest. A lot of emotion has been thrown about and its meant employing some pacifying and negiotiation skills.

The funeral went well considering, I saw a lot of family cousins and aunts etc that I havent seen for many years. Pop got up and said some stern words at the reception after the funeral, he felt the need to release some anger. If it had been any other occassion I think it would have caused a fuss, but people just accepted it as my father grieving. My brother asked me to play the role as an usher and a meeter and greeter at the funeral. It could have been tough but I guess the focus probably helped me through it all.

I chose some beautiful flowers for my mum at the local florist. When they asked about design i said i dont want anything that looks like funeral flowers but rather some that i'd take to a loved one. They did a lovely design with the floweres I chose. I also wrote the card and have attached the image, have a read.
A memorial service had also been arranged for the Saturday just gone. It was strange but i'd been having feelings about saying something about mum at this event. I had a chat with a good friend on the Friday who said you have one chance mate do it. He said even if you mess it up it doesnt matter but its better to have done it than to have wished you had after the event. So after gaining permission from my father I prepared a 5 minute or so speech. I decided on talking about my mothers personality and to relate a couple of stories.

An outstanding quality of my mum was that she was brave. She wasnt scared of anyone or anything. Rather people were scared of her!! Not because she was mean, because she wasnt! It was that she'd take anyone on that picked on her or her family. In this way she proved to be my refuge and my hero as a child. Talking about these things to others on Saturday was a priviledge I will always cherish! It was the right thing to do to have a personal word from one of us and i'm so proud of myself that I did it.

So this will be my last blog talking directly about this, I want to thank so many of you for your kind words and support. I hope it comes across how much she was loved and how much she will be missed.

With All My Love........Charles