When I thought about reading something to you all today, I searched for readings and poems that would befit my feelings for you… My lovely Dad…. And whilst I discovered many beautiful poems written in flowery prose, I felt somewhat disconnected from them… They were other people’s words about their loved and lost ones not you… So I delved deeper into my own feelings to find something I could connect with and share with you all meaningfully. And then I remembered, that some years ago, when I lost one of my grandparents, I asked my vicar how I should explain her death to my son Harry, then only 4 years old. She told me that in this life, none of us knows what to expect from the next, and she explained that the same was true of caterpillars. Caterpillars have their friends around them one minute and then one day the caterpillar friend they loved simply ‘disappeared’… However, what the caterpillar was too naïve to understand was that his friend had become a beautiful butterfly who’s wonderful existence surpassed even his own wildest imagination… That explanation has given my children great comfort through this loss of their grandfather, and from the moment I had that discussion with my vicar until this, I have had a fascination with butterflies, as some of you may have noticed by my jewellery! I still do not know what to believe about the afterlife; probably because like the caterpillar I am still too naïve to understand… But I do believe in butterflies; so I wanted to leave you with this poem-the only one I found that meant anything to me my Darling Dad: While waiting for Thee Don't weep at my grave, 
For I am not there, 
 I’ve a date with a butterfly 
To dance in the air! 
I'll be singing in the sunshine, 
 Wild and free, 
 And playing tag with the wind, 
 While I'm waiting for thee…