Smiling through the tears

Yesterday was quite a sad day for the Mummy clan.  It was GrandKing’s birthday and so we went to the crematorium in Anfield to visit his grave.  Princess Mummy, Little Prince, Queen Mummy, GrandQueen and Princess Mummy’s Littlest Sister.  We took flowers, and GrandQueen took a tiny poinsettia to plant for Christmas. 

We had to do some explaining to Little Prince that the trowel didn’t mean a visit to the seaside, and the crematorium hall not a sandcastle.  I did feel that I was slightly misleading Little Prince though, as it was a sandstone building!  Princess Mummy took Little Prince to one side to remind him that this is a quiet place, and that GrandQueen would be sad so Little Prince had to be specially kind to her.

Little Prince did me proud.  He walked over and took GrandQueen’s hand.  He helped put the flowers in the pots and helped to dig for the planting.  I took him to one side after that so that Queen Mummy and GrandQueen could have a quiet moment.  I gave Little Prince his conkers to play with.  Now these conkers are the bane of my existence!  In October, Prince Daddy took Little Prince conker picking and since then I have had to remind Little Prince almost daily that they are not chocolate!  But he won’t be parted from them, and asks for them whenever they “disappear”!  As we were ready to leave, Little Prince grabbed my hand.  “Want leave conks for Grandad.”  I explained that meant not having the conkers any more but Little Prince was adamant GrandKing “likes conks cos no spides.”  Slightly bemused, we duly collected the trowel, and buried the conkers.  Little Prince sang the birthday song, putting us all in tears, and we returned to the car. 

On the way home, GrandQueen thanked Little Prince for the conkers.  Apparently GrandKing had been a demon for collecting the things in Autumn and hiding them round the house for keeping spiders away. 

Considering Little Prince was born almost 2 years after GrandKing passed, that was an interesting fact for him to know!