Becky Goodings, Funeral Celebrant

24/07/2026

Sometimes, the words we need to hear find us I think. Reflecting, quietly, on the week and happened upon these: ‘we’re all just a whisper away from the morning’ where those we love, we hope, are waiting for us 💕

04/05/2026

Love this writer: wise, beautiful words - this is where I find my rest too ❤️

24/12/2025

Thinking of all of those we love but have laid to rest this year and all of the lovely families I’ve met who will be facing a very different - a quieter and less twinkly Christmas.

I said just recently that I don’t know what’s out there or up there, none of us do but whilst we can’t see them now, some of us believe they live on, somewhere beyond our sight, beyond our understanding. Like ships that have sailed beyond the horizon, they are not gone; they are simply out of view because we know there’s more out there than what we can see. The seas are as vast as the mysteries of life itself - just because we can’t see the shore our loved ones have reached, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

So as the lights glow, the carols play and we’re held gently, united in memoriam at this special time of year, let’s welcome them in this Christmas – build them into our traditions, tell their stories, share the kindness they taught us so well. Let our love for them be a lantern that lights the door through which they’ll enter 💕

Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas - sending out my love x

30/05/2025

I often talk about those little signs that feel too coincidental to be so; so, it’s my late Mum’s 83rd birthday today and the only little solar light we saved from her house usually turns itself off by dusk. Not tonight…. out of sight perhaps, but still they shine ✨

30/03/2025

Thinking of those amongst us without the woman they’ll never not need or miss today. Me and my Treasure - the Thelma to my Louise (although she hated being ‘Thelm’!) Forever blessed, forever changed 💕

24/12/2024

A message for all of those amongst us facing a difficult, a poignant Christmas after saying farewell to a treasure this year and in all of the years that went before them. Sending you my love ❤️

17/10/2024

Ten years ago today my lovely Dad took his gentle leave. Whilst the anniversary of their departure will always be poignant, cherish, when you can, all of the love-filled days that went before them. All the world and back again Dad 💕

13/09/2024

So true; we wouldn’t trade a single tear if it meant forfeiting the joy and privilege of knowing and loving them. Gratitude can be so hard to cling onto during the dark days, but just how blessed have we been 💕

I’ve found myself thinking “I couldn’t go through this again.”

But when I think about it -
I mean, really think about it –
that’s not true.

If I had my time again…

I would know you again.

I would love you again.

And if that meant I would lose you again,
I would still do it.

Because this is hard.

But,
whilst I think I couldn’t do it again,
the alternative is never knowing you.

Never loving you.

And that is even more painful than this.

And that’s how I know I’ll be ok. In the end.
Because I know that my love – our love – is stronger than my loss.

Because I know that I would lose you all over again.

As long as I had the opportunity
to love you.

*****

Becky Hemsley 2023
Beautiful painting by Snehal Pendurkar

'Again' is from the book When I Am Gone - poems for grief and loss.
https://a.co/d/0Nkb9X1