8 birthdays in Heaven

Yesterday would've been Aaron's 47th birthday and we've now celebrated eight of his birthdays without him.   On his first birthday after he died  I knew that I wanted to keep busy, and do something with friends to make the day easier, so we planned to meet at the Punchbowl Reserve for a BBQ and play. I got balloons to release and took some Pepsi which we had at his grave. 

I remember feeling really sad, but grateful that my friends were there with us.  We all stood around his grave (which was covered in dirt still, as it took a year or so for them to finally plant some grass) and we all said something that we really missed about Aaron.

It then turned into a new tradition, which we've done every year since.  Every year I still feel sad on Aaron's birthday, but I actually look forward to the day now as it's lots of fun to be with friends.  I'm not even sure if these photos are in the correct order.  I'm going off how tall Harri is in each one, when the Woodwards aren't in them (as they moved to the mainland), when Erin is in them, when Simone is pregnant and when Emerson appears in them :)

Last year was the biggest crowd we've had as Collette and Hayden were down for Christmas and everyone was going to the Carols by Candlelight straight after.  I actually found last year the hardest of all. 

The weather wasn't great last night, but at least it wasn't freezing.  I had to threaten Jay and Harri to join in for this photo! :) 

We played cricket at Punchbowl first which the kids were loving, and had to drag them away about 8pm so that we could walk into the cemetery before it got too dark.  

I asked for brown and gold balloons this year (Hawthorn colours) and they asked if I wanted them to match the ribbon to the balloon colours.  They didn't do a very good job, as they had black and yellow.  I had to laugh because Aaron wouldn't be very happy about the Richmond coloured ribbon. 

Emerson was fascinated with the balloons as we were walking in. 

We went to Noah's grave first. 

It was there that I realised that Harri was watching the Big Bash cricket match on his phone.  I told him off and then actually laughed and said 'oh don't worry - Dad would've been doing the same thing!'.  After I took this photo of the whole group, Harri pointed out to me that he was holding up his phone with the cricket on it! I'm sure Aaron was cracking up. 

So we made him come up the front for a photo. We did have a laugh saying that back in the day Aaron wouldn't have even been able to watch the cricket on his old iPhone 4.  He would just sneak off the car, to listen to the game on the radio!  It was good to have some laughs together and not feel as sad as other years, this year. 

We tried to get a whole group shot, but it was a bit tricky to get Emerson in it as well. 

Tim and I were unintentionally matching as my ebay Christmas jumper finally arrived.

Oh Harri! 

It won't be long and I'll be the shortest in the family. 

I'm so grateful to these awesome friends who give up their night two days before Christmas to remember Aaron and have some fun. I look forward to it every year and I'm glad that we have this tradition, to make Aaron's birthday easier. 

I also loved being sent photos of different friends and family having a Pepsi for Aaron throughout the day.  It means so much to know that he's not forgotten.