Yesterday was Dad's funeral and thanksgiving service and it was all that we hoped it would be.
The burial at the cemetery was, as you would expect, fairly emotional but the sun shone brightly and having all of the family there really helped keep us all strong. One strange thing that i didn't expect was the box of earth offered to us all to scatter on the coffin. Especially as when previous asked by my boys whether it would happen had replied "you've been watching too many American films!"
The timing worked well and we arrived at the Church with five minutes or so to spare. As we were welcomed, I glanced into the church and was amazed to see that the church looked nearly full. We had no idea how many people would turn up, but we hadn't really expected that number!
The service comprised four hymns, two readings, my tribute on behalf of the family and prayers (some of which were written by Dad for services he had taken). My sister and Will did the readings and Matt read Dad's prayers. They all did very well and my tribute seemed to strike the right note. Apart from losing my place a couple of times (don't ad lib!) I got through with no problems, but I had written it and ensured that there were no emotional land-mines!
Afterwards there was tea, coffee and a huge spread of sandwiches, nibbles and cakes and a chance to say hello to lots of friends and family. It was a good hour and half later before we were able to pack up and head back to Mum's, where even more cake was available!
Dad would, I know, have thoroughly approved!
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Ghostbusters
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Father, son
My Dad passed away last Sunday evening after he could no longer fight against the blood disorder he had had for the last eighteen months.
I'll blog after the funeral and thanksgiving service (which is not until Feb 20th - it's a busy time of year!) with my thoughts about how much he meant to us all.
Mum , Jane and I were with him for the last three days of his life and while we all knew how it would end, it was still a time of love and hope.
He's at peace now and while we will all miss him terribly, we couldn't be happy seeing him struggling with the illness that slowly took all his energy. He fought it as much as he could and late last year after a 6 week hospital stay recovered sufficiently to have Christmas and New Year at home with us all.
This week has been hard for us all but has been made so much easier by all the love and kindness we have received. Mum's house looks like a florist and she has more cards than space to display them. The comments about Dad have been truly amazing and on more than one occasion moved me to tears. I have also been very moved by all the cards that my sons and I have received. All the thoughts and prayers have really really helped.
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