Yesterday took us another step along the road of the mourning process for Nick. It was Jane's (OH) birthday and Mark came down from London to help clear Nick's room, which of late had become the household dumping ground. We needed it cleared for redecoration so that the family could once again visit. But where to start? We decided to blitz. Mini skip delivered and Mark and I set to (mainly Mark):Bed, mattress, carpet to the skip. Other more redeemable bits and pieces in boxes to the loft.
Then at 10 am we joined a Zoom Birthday Trivia Quiz for Jane organised by Andrew's wife Celine down there in Australia (nearly bedtime for the grand-children). And so for the next hour we played it through, including all the grandchildren. Celine had made up a series of questions and statements which required answers to True or False, or specific significant dates or happenings, or characteristics of Jane . (for example true or false...Jane astounds the grandchildren by eating 99.99% of meals with a knife and fork- even Pizzas).
They were each linked to a photo and set up using a Power Point Presentation format--- some of the photos actually bore little relevance to the question, but heigh ho! it was fun. It took an hour to get through with the questions and subsequent answers and adding up the scores. Everyone was a winner- we all know Jane so well!
It really was quite hilarious. And so back to the clearing and sorting.
The whole day quite cathartic for all of us and of course today (Sunday) it is Mother's' Day (again) and the birthday celebrations took on a second but equally important meaning for the good lady.
A very emotional day but also one of joy and thanksgiving, full of lasting memories of the family and especially Nick.