AUCKLAND BOUND

 Sadly today Stew and I are heading up to Auckland to attend the funeral of my cousin Sharon.

Sharon passed away suddenly after a very short battle with cancer.  So very sad as she was only 58.

She's the daughter of my Mum's sister, so a maternal cousin of mine.

She death means we have lost 4 family members from my Mum's side of the family in the past two years.  

The funeral is in the heart of Auckland city, so we are leaving quite early in order to get there on time.  Finding parking will probably be the biggest issue. 

Hopefully we get a clear run into Auckland with no hick ups/traffic jams etc.

I doubt I will be updating again until after the funeral... so I will catch ya after lunch.

OH... our girls will be getting groomed today.  Bex is kindly taking them to the groomers for us, as we can't obviously.  I did try to change the appointment, but that was just impossible.  You have to book appointments months in advance now days.  Glad they won't miss their grooms cos man, they need it!

ABOVE: We got here with two hours to spare! Other family members were here 3-4 hours early.

That's the church above... beautiful old building in the heart of the city.

ABOVE:  A very small area of the church.  It was truly gorgeous inside, so much history and amazing architecture. 

The service itself was really lovely, lots of insight into Sharon's life.  She lived a full and rewarding life.

There was a saying during the service that really hit home.  It went something like this:

 "It's not how long you live, but how you live that is important.  Therefore, don't make your life just LIVEABLE, make it memorable."   

Sharon did that.  She lived a wonderful life.

Today's funeral was the first one I have ever attended where the person who had died was cremated before the funeral, and their Urn was up the front surrounded by flowers, instead of a coffin.  If felt weird, but I can say I certainly prefer that to having the coffin/body there.

It made it less .... gut wrenching.

ABOVE: The church was next door to the Sky Tower.  Such a contrast of buildings!

Oh and yep, that's Stew on top of the carpark building... also right next door to the church.  Very handy.

ABOVE:  A side view of the church and Sky tower.  

After a little drink and food we left to come home.

We are now just relaxing until we head out for dinner.

Indian dinner in Cambridge tonight.  

Dinner was delicious, as per usual.  When we got home we had visitors in our pool.

ABOVE:  It was nice to see Steve is finally over his latest flare up, and feeling much better.  Hanging out till February, when Pharmac is funding STELARA.  Hoping that drug helps Steve more than anything else he's tried.

They have left now, and I'm going to be heading off to bed fairly soon.  It's been a long day.