Wednesday 3 October 2007

Ring of Fire


Went and saw the crematoria. Sorted the funeral.

We went to see the two crematoria in our area. One was scruffy and a bit hopeless, though the brochure made it look very nice. The other was better maintained and we found a nice tree as a site for the ashes. Putting him among flowers didn't seem right as we never had flowers in the house because of the infection risk from the water the flowers would be in. I was pretty useless as we went round, too upset to engage. Left it all to the wife.

We let the funeral directors know and the funeral is fixed for next Friday (12 October). Also, went and signed all the forms for the funeral and cremation. Auntie has kindly offered to do refreshments afterwards. Next job is sorting the service and flowers and sending invites.

Went to auntie's house later. So sad not to have the boy seeing auntie's pandas and giving them a kiss. Made more difficult by looking through auntie's photos of the boy, even though we wanted to see them. Brings home how happy he was but also what a short timespan they covered. Just reinforces the sense of a life cut short and the unfairness of it all. How stoical he was. Pictures of him after his operation, big bandage on his head and tubes connected but still playing with her and the pandas. And smiling.

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