Sweet sleep

It was a strange and surreal day.  We had kept the day free and James and No.2 and H were coming down for lunch and a visit to the Bluebell Woods to scatter some of Aimee's ashes.  V&P (James' parents) came too.  The day started off a bit grey but the sun gradually came out and when they first arrived we sat in the garden for coffee.

I had done a recce at the Bluebell Woods and I had chosen a tree but suggested first scatting a few of the ashes at our local church.  Whilst Aimee was not particularly religious in later life, she attended church for a few years and I was keen to 'hedge my bets' .............I dream of seeing her in heaven one day.  I had contacted our local vicar a few times but messages were slow to be replied to (or not at all), so we thought a low key scattering of a few ashes would be acceptable.  I was not bothered about an attending vicar or needing words and we wanted to just do our own thing. However not to be............. there was a lady in the churchyard who might have been a church warden or something and she told us that we were not allowed to scatter ashes without approval, filling in the right forms or paying the correct fee, so it could all be done 'properly' and written down in the book.  I walked away in tears wondering at how red tape could get in the way....surely she could have turned a blind eye?  Were we really doing anything wrong. 

HOWEVER - I am getting better at 'airbrushing' and after a drive to the Bluebell Wood forgot about the previous ten minutes.  We found the spot and the sun was shining throwing sun rays over the bluebells, the smell was sublime and we heard a robin singing (James has an app on his phone to identify bird song).  H and No.2 read poems and James said some lovely words he had written and we all had tears.  The spot was perfect and I know Aimee would approve and we had walked that route many times.  We hugged and reflected and thought about our lovely, beautiful, kind daughter, sister, fiance, daughter in law, who had died far too soon.

Home for Roast Lamb which was beautiful and a huge pile of greasy pans which OH dealt with as I had cooked.

The day turned out OK despite the disappointing start (actually the churchyard looked rather unkempt and overgrown and not a pretty resting place and in hindsight we should not have bothered) - the day all felt a bit surreal but like so many of the hurdles over the last two years, we got through and I know Aimee is smiling looking down on us all.