A day of strong emotions

from w
The day was grey with light rain. Luse from Sydney, and our youngest son and I went together to the church in Moorabool Street before 11 a.m. The ambience inside Christ Church was warm, soft and beautiful with several lovely stained glass windows. We were there to farewell our friend Wendy Reynolds, mother of Ben a great friend of our sons. She was younger than me. Music from opera played as we entered - my favourite 'Song to the Moon' from Rusalka. Sadness, tears, the pain of other occasions intruded throughout the process of a dignified funeral service. We were proud of our sons' friend and his eulogy to his Mum, who had been a wonderful woman and mother to her three sons. A delightful Sufi poem was read about earth and heaven. The Choir of Hard Knocks rendition of 'Alleluia' and later 'You raise me up' were perfect choices of music.

We adjourned to the nearby Wintergarden Cafe for drinks and savouries. It was crowded, noisy as bunches of relatives and friends greeted one another. For me it was catching up with another friend of our sons, Tony Malakelas, now 38 and living in Sydney. There was much talk of those teenage years, the larrikinism of three young guys - best of friends in and out of three households - stories I had not heard as I thought these kids were 'angels'. There was also telling strong stories about the dreadful time eight years ago on July 10th when tragedy on a Fijian island turned our family upside down. Ben and Tony had been there at the funeralin Labasa.

A few hours later the Gull bus arrived to the depot from Tullamarine airport. The rain poured down as we waited for Peceli to arrive back from Fiji. Now I felt secure, he would look after me if the choking coughs started up again! Then ten minutes later we drove to visit Ben at his Mum's house, necessary for Peceli to spend an hour with Ben who is like our own son.


So it was a day of strong emotions, sadness, joy, and remembering. I now have a beautiful bunch of flowers standing in a glass vase - a gift from Ben.