Mum & Dad

I'm not one for visiting graves, never have been - the person isn't there.  To me when someone dies they become part of everything around us, and live on in our memories, so a grave is just a marker for where the remains are placed - not important.

So, I've only visited Mum's grave once - to have a look (that was about a year after she died), and up until recently I'd not visited Dad's.

This week I visited Lottie and as in the past, I drove passed the little cemetery that Dad's grave is in.  I was early to Lottie's so decided to stop.  It's a lovely spot, on the top of a hillside in the middle of the Stroud countryside.  No church, just a little cemetery.

The headstone was obviously chosen by Lottie, and the words - which are lovely.  I particularly like 'A True Gentleman', when Dad was in the the hospice that was something that many of the staff said about Dad - and it was true.

Mum's grave is very different as she's in a woodland burial site, no headstones allowed, just little plaques flat to the grave.

The word 'Nimlet' is special to Richard, and whilst I wouldn't have chosen to have it on the stone, it's what Richard wanted (and I knew he'd visit more often than me).  The photo below was actually taken when he visited recently.