On this early Sunday morning, I stood by Bed 21 of Eltham Cemetery, my parents-in-law’s resting place. The big, velvety red roses grew profusely on this plot, and I commented idly that my mother-in-law, who had always been very particular about her garden, would have been pleased with the roses. It has been almost two years since she was cremated and brought here. I still remember that day, when my older daughter’s tears fell non-stop and my younger daughter stood stonily beside her older sister, a tear slowly rolling down her cheek when she lay a rose on her grandmother’s coffin. In my daughters, my in-laws live on. I see so much of them in my children.
My in-laws were a humble London bus-driver and a cleaner, but they had sown wonderful seeds in their lifetime with the chidden they have raised with so much love, kindness and care. Their children have gone on to raise their own children on the same template of love, kindness and care – I see this in our children, the way the care for each other, love so generously and show kindness, as if they have their grandparents on their backs, helping them to be good people.
Our life on earth is so very brief in the timespan of the world, just read Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari to realise how short and insignificant the 70-80 years are. My parents-in-law’s generation is now gone, all their friends buried around this part of South East London, their world slowly disappearing. It is as if they haven’t lived, sometimes, except when we see the faces of their children and grandchildren, and hear about their good deeds and kindness.
What are you leaving behind? Sow sweet seeds, to leave a legacy of sweet fruits.
Related post: Days of our life
www.lifeGO.me 