Reunited

My mom and dad were married in 1954, the day before my mom’s 20th birthday. Something happened to the photographs taken on the day, though, and they had a lot of them retaken in a back garden. I don’t know if the photograph above is one from the actual day or if it was part of the retakes. Either way, it’s a lovely photograph and it’s one of the first they had taken together as husband and wife.

Dad died in July 2018. They’d been married for 64 years. Last Thursday, after almost 5 years without him, and after an almost 20-year battle with Alzheimer’s, Mom finally rejoined him. We lost our mom a long time ago, but hopefully now she is at peace.

We’re grateful for the care she received at the residential home where she lived for the past 8 years. We’re grateful that my brother and his wife were able to come over from Canada and visit her in recent weeks. We’re grateful that we decided to go and see her last weekend instead of the weekend just gone. And we’re grateful that my sister was able to spend so much time with her during the last few weeks. We’re also grateful that the hell that she has been living in is now over.

I’d like to think of Mom and Dad now driving around the British countryside, travelling for miles to get a nice bag of fish and chips or a nice cup of tea. They particularly had a lot of fun finding ‘pensioner specials’ and other money-saving bargains. Whenever we see a solitary rain cloud, we like to think of Dad. The rain really did follow him everywhere. And whenever we see a patch of blue sky to head for, we like to think of Mom. Whenever Dad moaned about the rain, Mom would suggest they drive to a patch of blue sky where they usually found a sunny spot.

The photograph below is one of the last ones I have of the two of them together.

Have fun together, you two. And rest easy. 💖