Ashes

Gina would have loved to have had a garden of her own. She talked about it as recently as last July, when she seemed to be recovering and there was a glimmer of hope of some sort of future ahead of her. She talked about wanting to move out of the city to a house where she could have the garden she always wanted. Gina and Greg's home was full of plants, but there's only so much you can do in a city-centre flat.

One of the difficult decisions that has to be made when dealing with the loss of a loved-one, is what to do with their remains. We discussed scattering the ashes, perhaps in St Andrews, but when it came to it, we didn't think we were ready for that. We were offered the chance of having some of the ashes embedded into jewellery of some sort, but that really wasn't for us; nor was the idea of keeping the ashes in the house somehow.

So, this is where Gina's ashes now lie. In a stone urn, in a sheltered but occasionally sunny part of the garden. I can't claim any of the credit for this. Gina's mum is the gardener and the one with all the ideas. However, it seems like a fitting way to keep her close, surrounded by flowers and plants. We hope Gina would approve.