Happy Tears.

Have you ever been in a really sad situation and suddenly something so funny happens it changes your whole outlook on the day. Well, last Friday was one of those days.................Very sadly The Husbands father passed away a couple of weeks ago and last Friday was the funeral. The first part was in a very large church followed by a cremation at a much smaller chapel about 20 minutes away. The service was sad and happy all at the same time as lots of friends and family members that we hadn't seen in ages turned out to pay their respects.

After the first service we shook hands, hugged and chatted to all the lovely people that has gathered there. Then it was time to head off to the chapel for the cremation.............This is where it all went slightly wrong.......I should tell you all at this stage that we had moved away from the area 13 years ago to East Sussex so our sense of direction was a little hazy.

As The Husband and I held hands and walked back to our car we talked about how the sun had come out in time and the rain had stopped. He was visibly shaken by the whole experience and I held his hand tightly not quite knowing what to say. Once in the car the reality of getting from one church to the next in 20 minutes took over and here is what followed.......

The Hubby (TH)..."Which way do we go?"
Me.."Ermmmmm......Oh my god...My mind has gone blank....Ermmmm...try that way"
TH..."Are you sure?"
Me..."No"

We then engaged it what I can only describe as a scene from The Streets Of San Francisco, weaving in and out of traffic, flying over speed bumps and generally driving very erratically. After 11 minutes we were still no nearer to where we needed to be and it was looking very much like we were going to miss the whole thing.

TH..."I am NOT going to miss this...We ARE going to get there" he said
Me.."OK...OK....Just slow down a tiny bit" I replied trying desperately to hang on to the contents of my stomach. I declined to tell him at this point that I needed a wee as we flew over the sleeping policemen.

Suddenly a familiar road and then "There...there...go down that road...its just there" I screamed. He followed my instructions and we turned into the Cemetery with 1 minute to spare......"Crikey" he said "We've beat everyone else...even the hearse".

It was at this point that it all came flooding back to me........This didn't look anything like the place we had cremated my Grandparents "Noooooooooooooo.....Nooooooooo....This is wrong....This is the cemetery not the crematorium"I nervously said. It wasn't that we were the first to get there or that we had missed it, it was in fact that we were at the wrong place. "Its the next road down" I cried. As we wheel spinned out of the cemetery, it felt like an episode from Only Fools And Horses which was his dads favourite show.

I cannot repeat what The Hubby said to me at this point other than it wasn't very polite.

However, we did make it with 30 seconds to spare and the tears that were shed afterwards were ones of laughter as we sat back in the car in hysterics. "My dad would of loved that" he said "I can just imagine him laughing his head off at the pair of us".

At the time when I thought I was going to either throw up or wet myself it seemed to be a complete disaster but now when I look back it was probably the best thing ever to happen. The Hubby got through the rest of the day smiling and chatting about the old times spent with his dad and I looked on with love and pride at my gorgeous brave man.

As we raised a glass later we started to laugh again at how a very sad day turned out to have such a funny ending. I guess its what often happens in those situations, my Mum says its a mixture of being overwhelmed and relieved all at the same time.

One things for sure though.........I don't think The Husband will be asking me for directions any time soon.

Lots of Love
Me
xxx

This blog is dedicated to My Father In Law and My Husband for being the best Dad and Hubby ever.