An odd challenge - I accept. But it certainly qualifies for my list on the following grounds:
- I certainly haven't done it before,
- it brought a smile to a lot of faces,
- it allowed Mum and Dad and the rest of my crazy family to be part of my year-long adventure - the journey would have felt incomplete without them.
Two years ago, my wonderful life-embracing family was left reeling by the deaths of my lovely mum, my dear brother John, and my beautiful nephew John, all within 3 weeks. I am so very proud of how they have all dealt with the pain and sadness with inner strength and without self pity, to walk the difficult path to the place where they can once again embrace life and smell the roses. Sadly Dad, challenged further by old age and infirmity, could not regain the huge zest for life he once had, and he died a year later.
The emotional exhaustion we all felt at the time prevented us from truly celebrating the long lives of our parents in the way we, and they, would have wanted, ie with a glass in our hands and a smile on our faces. True to their wishes, their ashes were scattered together between 3 oak trees on a little island in the middle of my brother's lake. The sun shone, the champagne flowed and laughter replaced the tears of the last 2 years. After nightfall, fireworks lit up the sky and paper boats containing candles, messages and a little of their ashes sailed across the lake.
Mum and Dad, and the love they shared for over 65 years, lives on in all of us. What a legacy!
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