Beauty for ashes

Today is a significant day for me and one which I want to mark in my journal but struggle to know how best to do so without sounding dramatic.
So, I'll just tell it like it is. Please don't feel you have to comment on this. I just needed to write it.

Five years ago today, my world was turned upside down. My dear husband of nearly twenty-nine years went out for an early morning motor bike ride, never to return. It was one of those inexplicable accidents in a windy, little country lane - no one else was involved. In a way, it doesn't matter how it happened because the end result is the same.

I am sure that you will understand when I say that the death of my husband was the most painful thing I have ever had to endure. I am so very thankful that I have a wonderful family and many caring friends. I look back at the wonderful things we did together as a couple and then as a family and cherish the many special memories. My life has changed dramatically but I choose to embrace life and all it has to offer, just as I know he would have wanted me to do. I have much to be thankful for and I actively look for the beauty in all things. Despite what has happened, I can honestly say that there is much beauty and much joy in my life today.

Of course, I miss him.

Each year, those of the family who are able to get together to remember my husband by doing something he would have enjoyed. This year, we went out for a big cooked English breakfast followed by a walk in the park. Later, we visited the woodland burial ground where his ashes are buried, which is where this photo was taken. It is a beautiful, peaceful place with lovely views - the kind of open spaces that he loved.

To comfort all who mourn.....
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,

Isaiah 61:2,3