FREEDOM

 It's natural to be sad as we say our 'goodbye' to a loved one who has died. But letting such sadness direct our subsequent life is to deny that death, rather than an end, is the beginning of a new phase of existence.

Vera Lynn, back in the war years, used to sing "We'll meet again - don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day."

The singer was referring to the expectation of sweethearts being reunited when the war ended, but surely she also meant a reunion in heaven in the event of death - death being an ever-present threat during those turbulent years.

Sadness after a death is natural for a while, but if we can focus on the freedom being experienced by our loved one - who has perhaps been released from a pain wracked body - we can, I'm sure, before too long feel glad in the knowledge that our shared love lives on.

AVA GARDNER - Did She Carry Through Her Threat?

Here's a snippet about Ava Gardner from Richard Kay's page in yesterday's DAILY MAIL that I simply had to share with you:

'The brilliant biographer, Peter Evans, has died at home in Dulwich, South London. He was 78. Peter, who worked with my late colleague Nigel Dempster, was finishing his latest work, on Ava Gardner, when he had a heart attack. Curiously, he blamed Ava for nearly killing him 22 years ago after she asked him to write her obituary, saying she was about to die. At the time, Peter said: 'I didn't believe her and she ended with the words: "When I go, I'll send you a bolt of lightning."'

Sure enough, days after her death, lightning hit a tree which crashed into Evans's house, missing him by inches. Something they may be able to laugh about on the other side ... '