HONOURING A LOVED ONE

Before I knew my auntie and uncle's farm was being handed back (after a 57 year tenancy) I had a dream about being there - a dream I took to my dream group which my facilitator invited me to work by holding ceremony there.

By the time I had chance to visit the farm, my uncle had moved into a care home and with my auntie having died 2 years earlier, the house had been cleared and the keys were to be handed back the next day.

So on the very last day of their tenancy, I went to the farm, to this place I loved so much as a child - still loved - to say goodbye to the farm; to my auntie; and in the end, to my uncle, who was in hospital on the day of my visit.

I cried as I drove into the farmyard, as I could see my auntie in the doorway, there to greet me as she always would in life.

I looked for acorns under the wee oak tree in her forlorn garden but didn't find any. 

I walked through the field, played pooh sticks on the bridge, walked upstream sitting awhile; walked downstream, crossing on stepping stones, finding the spot where we'd picnicked and swum decades ago.

Although I recognised it, it looked different and I had to climb through a tangle of branches to get to the stream (the trees having had 40+ years growth!) 

I don't know if you can see from the photos how magical a day it was - the light; the apples; the white feathers everywhere I looked; the dew drops.

Everytime I dropped 2 sticks into the stream (one for my auntie and one for me) in a game of pooh sticks, only one would go downstream and the other would get stuck.

And when I climbed between the branches to paddle in the stream I found a triangular rock, on which were Autumn leaves, and as if someone had placed them there, two sticks perfect for pooh sticks.  It was like a wee altar to pooh sticks... something she'd left there for me. And looking closer I saw, just there, the bed of the stream was lined with acorns, as though gifted to me!

It was gorgeous to feel my auntie with me in those synchronicities.  I cleansed the labradorite pendant I wore of hers and gave thanks for a magical ceremony and the sense I'd had of walking with her presence.

That day I also visited my uncle in hospital, in what I knew when I saw him was the last visit. I sang to him in the hospital and said goodbye. He died weeks after, but he wouldn't have been sad about it... he never understood when people were sad about death... he knew that to die was to return home.

Update July 2026: I had looked up what to do with the acorns and found out that you know if acorns are good when they sink in water. As they all came fom the bottom of the stream they were all good! I still wasn't that hopeful having never grown trees from seed before, and because I'd chucked them in a ziplock bag with some damp kitchen paper and forgotten about them being in the bottom of my bag until I arrived home a week later. But... my auntie Barbara's oak trees are growing!

I've been watching their progress with absolute delight!  They feel very special.