Five years ago today my dear Mother gently flew from this world, as I held her hand. Today, in celebration of her Second Birthday, I shall cut roses from the behind the house and drive them out to Witchampton. There, the roses will nest in front of the headstone cut from Purbeck stone which marks the resting place of both my parents. I carry shears to cut back the nettles which spring around their grave.
This churchyard is a place which continues to be part of the life of the community. Many of the graves have fresh flowers and are well tended and visited, particularly at main times in the Christian calendar. The families which are celebrated on the headstones are part of a continuum of living. Those members that appear to leave are not absent, just in the next room. In this room, we celebrate.
Looking down from my Arthur and Edie's grave is the church where I married Toyah on May 16th. 1986, my fortieth birthday. Then, to the right, is my former home from 1980 to 1987 in this, my family village where my great great great great great grandfather Robert Fripp died in 1752.
I shall take a photograph to send my Sister Patricia in San Francisco, wipe away a tear, and return to life at Discipline Global Mobile world Central.
"Better to be present with a bad note than absent from a good note."
