Sundays will never be quite the same...

Today was always going to be difficult because for years and years Sundays has been our family time with Mum and Dad, John and I together, eating drinking and playing cards.  It started nearly 30 years ago just after Dad had his first heart attack and I had just started going out with John.  In fact I seem to remember the first time I took John home to meet Mum and Dad it was a Sunday and Dad barely looked over the top of his newspaper to acknowledge John's presence.  John now knows that Dad was just being Dad - a man of few words and he probably didn't feel the need to waste any on a young lad (Northern and a Matelot) who might not have been around for long.  Undaunted John stuck it out and Dad warmed to him because they were so similar in many ways, they were both practical, sticklers for time, loved eating, drinking and me plus they were born on the same day.

So we had many Sundays at Cottons Lane in Keinton Mandeville before Mum and Dad moved to Cyprus - I remember telling John that I thought it was the children who were supposed to leave the parents and not the other way round!  They followed their dream and made it a reality and because of that we too came to live on the island and seven years ago continued the Sunday tradition.

We were only saying last night that if we had followed our original plan and John had stayed in the Navy until 2017 and then we had made arrangements to move out we might have missed those very precious 7 years completely and how sad would that have been?  In fact if you do the calculations all those Sundays added up to a whole year together enjoying each others' company - Sunday afternoons were always fun.

So today we spent it as a family - reduced in numbers but together as we would normally have been.  Mum drove up to be with us which was her choice and we all went together to see Dad in the Cemetery.  It was a day mixed with emotions but a tick in the box because we have done it and the next time wont be the first time.

Dad would have had something to say about my carrots today - they were most definitely al dente - or uncooked in his opinion.