calorie crusader "
Hi AJ
Just a quick post to say will be thinking of you and your family 2moro, hope all goes well x"
Thanks for your thoughts, CC!
Jax123 "
Hi AJ, congrats on your stone lost. So sorry to hear of your loss. Hope all goes as well as it can tomorrow - will be thinking of you xxx
Hope all went well today xxx "
Thank you, Jax.
blackwidow "
Hey AJ, just popping in to say hope everything went as well as it could go today xxx "
Yes, everything went well, thanks hun.
westiegirl "
Been thinking about you all today AJ. Hugs to you, A and the kids xxx"
That means a lot, Sarah.
mhredhill "
Hi AJ
Hope everything went as well as these things do.
Take care
M"
Yes, Averil's funeral was a celebration of her life, and I felt honured to have known her.
We were nearly late for the funeral!
We left extra early because we wanted to visit Arnold's plot at the crematorium first. It is in the rose garden, and Averil will be placed next to him in due course. Well, Adrian left the A road at the wrong junction and the relatives, following in the car behind didn't realise either and just followed him. Eventually we realised we had gone wrong and turned back. Back on the A road we went ahead a further junction and thankfully it was the right way. We got there just with two minutes to spare.
Jayne and Jamie accompanied the coffin together with Adrian and Clive. It took me back to five years ago when they accompanied Arnold's coffin. The service was lovely, no singing (!), but the minister, who had known Averil, said some lovely things about her life. I had not realised that she met Arnold when she was learning to drive. He was her driving instructer!
She studied medicine at St Andrews at a time when women were beginning to assert their independence and demand equal rights. The Pankhurst family actually lived nearby where she lived in London and were actively campaigning for women's rights. Once she qualified she found a position in a hospital in Wrexham, and there she stayed, marrying Arnold and working as a part-time GP when raising her boys.
Afterwards we chatted to friends and neighbours who had come along. Not many, because she had outlived most of them. It was particularly special to meet a neighbour who had lived next door to them when they lived in their bungalow who, at 93, was one of the few people older than her. She had many wonderful memories to share and I know that Adrian and Clive were grateful that she'd come along.
Jayne and Jamie met a cousin who they'd never previously met. Fiona is fifteen, the same age as Jayne and it was uncanny to see such a strong resemblence in the two of them. They even had the same coat (TopShop)! They had the same hairstyles/colour, the same build, the same fashion sense - amazing. Fiona lives in London with Adrian's uncle and aunt, and needless to say, tentative arrangements have been made for Jayne to visit to experience London shopping. She is saving up aleady!
My digestive system is still as dead as a dodo and it's just not funny. I am popping along to the chemist for assistance later today. Things have GOT to get moving or I will explode
. Not a pretty thought...
AJ
