Our dear mother passed away on Christmas Day, in the early evening, at Boneham Aged Care in Millicent.
She had some sort of episode (heart related ?) on December 7th and grew weaker with each day. Mum had Alzheimer's so the progression was rather fast, in her last week being kept comfortable in bed with pain meds for back and leg pain. She received such wonderful attention from the caring staff, many telling us how they loved her and her cheeky ways.
After Christmas, we five girls had a funeral to plan and this was held on Tuesday, 2nd January. We chose a couple of readings, planned the eulogy, chose an elegant white coffin with gold handles and ordered 'the best pink roses and other flowers' for the coffin spray. How beautiful they were!
We had to decide on songs for the opening of the service, reflection time and when flowers were cast at the conclusion.
We chose
I Can See Clearly Now - Anne Murray
Beautiful in My Eyes - Joshua Kadison
Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Judy Garland
You Are My Sunshine - Anne Murray (my dad always whistled this song)
A morning tea was served at our local Community Club and it was nice to see a few of her old friends there, people who have been a constant in her life, going right back to when she was first married in 1950 and settled in Mt McIntyre. Her younger brother, aged 85, drove over from Melbourne with his wife and gave a beautiful reading, of happy times during their childhood.
Dorothy Jean Bridges (nee Turner)
23-04-1930 ~ 25/12/2017
Aged 87 years
Dearly loved wife of Tom (dec.)
Loving mother and mother-in-law of
Marilyn & Brentley Thomas
Janine & Rick Sims
Susan Kenny
Leanne and Snow Gould
Julie & Angus McDonald
Loved Nana B of
Kirste & Melanie
Heath & Ben
Jeremy, Adam & Bianca
Jane (dec.)
Kirby & Brianna
and their partners.
Loved Gran Nan of
Tayla, Josh, Blake & Jett
Saige, Kobe, Cruz & Jaga
Mitchell & Jed
Sapphire, Brodi & Arlie
Rylee, Cash & Klaye
Nathan, Kaiden & Jake
Brax & Tex
Reunited with her beloved Tom, after 28 years...
~
Until we meet again, dear Mum...
Those special memories of you
will always bring a smile.
If only we could have you back,
for just a little while.
Then we could sit and talk again
just like we used to do.
You always meant so much to us
and always will do, too.
The fact that you're no longer here,
will always cause us pain
But you're forever in our hearts,
until we meet again...
~
What beautiful memories you've left behind...
~
We miss you xx
Is everything OK Joolz? I have noticed you have not posted for many weeks. Have been wondering.......Hope all is well? Regards Robyn S.A
ReplyDeleteSo very sorry to hear of your Mum's passing Joolz. I knew there had to be a reason why you hadn't blogged for so long. Please accept my condolences. Thinking of you at this sad time, kind regards Robyn S.A
ReplyDeleteThanks for your concern, Robyn. It has been a hard December with Mum's passing but now it's time to start the year anew. I love my blog and hope to keep enticing people to try some new recipes that I put up and come along on the ride that is my life.
DeleteCheers - Joolz xx
Yes, happy to come along for the ride. Something always interesting and varied on your blog. Reading the detail about your dear Mum's funeral, reminded me of our Dad's funeral over a decade ago. He was in WW2 in the British Air Force, and was not a Church goer. What we had tentatively planned did not seem fitting for Dear Dad. So we had a service under a huge old tree in the Park in the suburb where he lived, and we played all the lovely old war songs.We had a table with a lovely lace cloth, with all his photos of family. It was just so good!! It is these memories, and send off that help to ease the pain......Go gently Joolz.
Deletesorry for your loss,
ReplyDeletechristmas time is a hard time to lose family or friends (grandma passed on xmas eve, when i was little) it seems to be the one event that most families tend to get together.
she looked to have a good life & a family who loved her very much.
thanx for sharing
My heartfelt condolences to you and your family. Such a lovely post in honour of your Mum xx
ReplyDeleteOh I'm so sorry to hear this.
ReplyDeleteMany hugs.
Big hugs, Joolz. It is never easy losing your mum even if they are a good age. My condolences to you and your family and I am sure you all have happy memories of her over the years.
ReplyDeleteI am so very sorry for the loss of your mum. My prayers are with you.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry to read about your Mum’s passing.
ReplyDeleteMy dear old Mum passed away nearly seven years ago and I still think about her and shed the occasional tear, which is the last thing my Mum would want, her generation which I am sure is your Mum’s generation as well were very practical about these things.
When my Mum passed away, a very dear friend of mine told me that you never get over it, but you do learn to live with it.
Take care of yourself, particularly your health, I let mine decline in the few months following my Mum’s passing and it took a while to get back on track.
Kellie x
Hi Joolz,
ReplyDeleteLoving your new cover photo, it is so pretty.
First of all I want to pass on my sympathy for the loss of your dear mum, I know she meant the world to your family xx
I am sorry that I haven't been leaving comments on here quite as often as I used to. For some reason your blog page takes forever to load up from my laptop (haven't tried on my phone, might do that in a minute), and some of the photos don't load. I am not sure why this is happening as other blogs seem to be fine. We do have dodgy internet, but one would think it would affect all the blogs that I visit. So this is the reason for my absence, I thought I would let you know in case others are having the same issue :)
Okay, I just tried my phone and it worked fine, so that might mean an internet problem. I will have to use my phone to see your blog from now on, so I have just solved my own problem lol!
xTania
This is a beautiful tribute to your mum Joolz, it brought tears to my eyes. The flowers are just gorgeous!
Delete(Your post wasn't here this morning when I commented).
Much love to you,
xoxo
Oh Joolz I'm so sorry for your loss
ReplyDeleteHi Joolz
ReplyDeleteSorry for your loss. 💐 Julie D
Hi Darling Joolz,
ReplyDeleteSo very sorry for the loss of your dearest Mum, I can see she was well loved and you all have beautiful memories to hold close and dear. Saying the final goodbye is so hard, but I sense her send off was very fitting to such a lovely lady. Loved your choice of songs, you know it’s probably the hardest thing, you want the songs to reflect the loved ones personality and also how everyone felt about them. Your girls would have been wonderful support, family instinctively know what to do, don’t they.
My kindest regards
Fi
Very sorry to hear of the passing of your Mum, Joolz. She was very clearly a much loved and cherished lady. You have had a difficult December and Christmas time so I hope that this new year will help you move forward and bring you some joy. Meg Xx
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about your mum. I saw the spray photo come up without text a few days ago and wondered, so you have been on my mind. Beautiful tribute to your beautiful mum. Difficult times, but good to have family gather. I'm sad too for your uncle losing his brother and sister so close together.
ReplyDeleteHugs Joolz XO. Sorry to hear about the loss of your Mum.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful tribute to your dear mum Joolz, and gosh you had me tearing up, even though I didn't know her personally. Sadly, the loss of our parents is something we all must face during our lives, at least that is the way it is supposed to be, and not the other way around. She would have been so very proud if she had been able to look down on all who were paying their respects with such love. She will be very much missed by you all.
ReplyDeleteHi Joolz, so sorry to hear of your Mum passing. Sounds like she went in a very similar way to my Mum back in August. We can be thankful that they lived a very full and happy life xx
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about your dear Mum.....what beautiful flowers! I am off work so had some time to read blogs and was concerned that you hadn't posted for a while! I do read but don't comment much....but it's nice to know that people are reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry for your loss Joolz. Never easy, but I am sure Christmas was that much harder.
ReplyDelete