On a previous thread I asked your opinion on whether my 4 small grandchildren should attend their much loved 16 year old cousin's funeral (my niece).The funeral has now happened and they did attend. It was a beautiful service with music, poetry ,a band, her friends giving very moving and some funny tributes. The church was packed. We chose a pale willow coffin with white and blue flowers in a beautiful wild arrangement. The children did some drawings and messages which we included in the order of servic as well as many lovely photos. They were told what was going to happen beforehand and they wanted to be there. There were lots of tears, but laughs and smiles as well. The children did not do the crematorium bit but we met up with many of her friends and well wishes afterwards at a large gathering where the children enjoyed running about and chatting to people. All in all it was as good as we could make it. Now the hard bit starts - how does anyone get over something so tragic? As I am writing this I feel a huge wave of sadness and I know I am going to have to stay strong to support my sister in her great loss.
The majority of Israeli Jews do not want to occupy Gaza.