RIP: Doris Laws

Yesterday we travelled to South Wales for the funeral of my mother-in-law, Doris Laws. In all essentials it was exactly the same routine we followed when her husband, Harry, died in April earlier this year. I blogged about this at the time.

As far as mother-in-laws go, mine was as far removed as it was possible to be from the harridans parodied by Les Dawson and his ilk. She treated me like a son and I will always value that.

She was someone who had found her role in life as a wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunty, friend etc. More than that, she was someone who was very comfortable and content with her role and she was very good at it. She was someone who took joy in the simple pleasures of life and loved nothing more than being with her family and friends. She will missed but remembered fondly by all who knew her - and those memories will endure.

But most of all, she was a wife. Her death certificate says that she suffered a cerebrovascular event. But those of us who had been with her over the past few months know that is not true. She never recovered from the loss of her beloved Harry in April and, quite simply, she died of a broken heart but that's not something that can be put on a death certificate.

She and Harry would have been married 67 years in June of this year: they died almost equally either side  of this milestone. Tragically romantic but desparately sad.