Wednesday 31 July 2013

Four balloons & the gang






Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy

This year, on the four year anniversary of my dad passing away, we decided to release four balloons. One for each year. Usually we do lanterns, on dad's first birthday after his passing we did a huge balloon release, but this year lanterns were out of the question what with the big fire that occurred. The words we chose this year for our newspaper memorial are an Eskimo proverb - such a lovely idea.

Our closest friends & family gathered at my mum's house on the evening of Thursday the 18th July to celebrate and remember my dad. I'll take you through the two photos, but there is one person missing from them and that is Phil. Phil was a good friend of my dad's and they shared many a happy time together (many times have I heard the story about my dad and the grenade? in the garden! Though I obviously need to hear it again - I have an awful memory!).

Photo 1 L-R: my boyfriend Mark, myself, sister Willow, littlest sister Indigo, dear family friend Bronwen, nephew McKenzie, sister Zenobia, mumma bear, littlest brother Phoenix, brother Josh, sister Phoebe (twin to Phoenix), niece Caitlin, brother Zach and his labrador Prim, friend and Josh's partner Gemma, friend Maxine.

Photo 2 L-R: Gemma, myself, Indigo, Willow, Bronwen, Zenobia, McKenzie, mumma bear, Phoenix, Josh, Phoebe, dear family friend Lynn (hidden behind) Caitlin, Zach and Maxine.

We had a lovely, fun and laughter filled evening with old friends and all of our large but wonderful family. I love all of these people very much, and I am missing them already!

13 comments:

  1. This is such a nice idea! I love the Eskimo proverb too, it's so lovely xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. That proverb is so lovely. Your brothers and sisters have such interesting names, they're great! Love to you, so sorry that you've lost your dad- I can't imagine how hard that must be. xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such a beautiful thing done :')

    ReplyDelete
  4. These photos are all lovely :)

    Hayfa
    http://chic-and-cliche.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is lovely that you do something to remember him by. Very poignant post! And beautiful pictures! Thanks for the comment on my blog! :)
    www.theemeralddove21.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  6. you look so much like your sisters! this is lovely, as is the proverb xxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. what a lovely way to remember and cherish someone's legacy :) it's so important for these things to bring families closer together, rather than tear them apart. Lovely post <3

    ReplyDelete
  8. lovely way to remember him - i agree, after the fire i think i'll avoid chinese laterns too (which is a shame, because they're very pretty, but just not worth it!). it's nice that each year you've found the time to mark his passing all together, it shows just how much he meant to you all. and it's nice to hear stories (no matter how many times you've heard them before!) x

    ReplyDelete
  9. This day looks so special and it's a beautiful way to remember him :) x

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think this is a really beautiful way of remembering your father and gathering the family together. You guys seem like a wonderful family <3 xxx

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is such a lovely way to remember him & so nice that you all get together each year to do this. The proverb is really beautiful too, a nice way of thinking about it :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your lovely comments! I try to reply to them all :) x