It is time now for me to write again, and to thank all my friends who sent messages of sympathy, which I so greatly appreciated.We celebrated Michael's life on Monday, in the church which he thought of as his second family. The service, which was planned jointly by the church and ourselves, included tributes both from his own family and from members of the congregation. The choir sang a song which one of them had written to celebrate his 80th birthday nine years ago, and he was played out to the cheerful strains of "When the saints go marching in".
The flowers in the church had been done specially, and a group of church ladies had put on a terrific buffet in the church hall, which enabled us all to meet straight after the service and share our feelings and memories. I had made a collection of photographs of Michael on a CD, covering his whole life from the age of 3 and we ran them as a slideshow. This was much appreciated, despite the fact that the quality of many of the family snaps was pretty poor, given his long life of 89 years!
Later, at the crematorium, we saw Michael off on his last journey to the sounds of a steam locomotive pulling out of the station and disappearing into the distance. This was a sound he always loved so much, and I think he would have been happy to ride by train into eternity.
10 comments:
That is very beautiful. It is good to know how you have loved and been loved. May it sustain you in the future.
ok Judith...I now have tears streaming down my face. What a beautiful, moving tribute to your husband. I cannot imagine how you must feel but it must be comforting somehow to know that you have loved and been loved (as anonymous said)
I happened upon your blog while browsing around.
I am sorry to hear about your loss! I am glad you had such a long life with your husband.
May your happy memories sustain you through this difficult time, and give you warmth in the future.
We should all be so blessed, by both the love and being loved seen here. I am so pleased for your memeories and so sorry for your loss, Judith.
Will you post your beautiful picture of Michael on the train? I know it can be found online elsewhere but it is a marvelous image.
I've missed you much. Glad to see your return.
Thanks Lillie for reminding me. I fully intended to end this blog with that picture. I have just been trying to upload it and have failed miserably. Will try again tomorrow.
So glad to see you back Judith and to read your tribute to Michael. Through it you've let us know him a bit, too. You must miss him. Especially moving are these lines: "I can scarcely remember a time when Michael was not a determining factor in what I was thinking or doing. I cannot imagine that this is ever going to change." What a beautiful way to continue loving him.
J. Thoughts from across the world are winging their way to you.
This is such a moving tibute to the man you spent your life with.
Judith
Such a lovely tribute.
Lots of love
Pete
XX
Judith..
I read backwards to this entry and couldn't continue. Not because of feeling sad, although I did, but because of feeling overwhelmed by tenderness for you, for Michael, and for all of us...
It's a good thing to feel that.
This is a beautiful blog.
Thank you.
Post a Comment