Today was a sombre but very special day for our family. Christina (with little Piper), Vince and I met with Sue, from Pinnaroo Valley Cemetery, to discuss options available for Kyle’s Memorial. We had looked at internment of his ashes just after the funeral last year but there was nowhere we felt suitable. They were to release more areas later in the year and I had an appointment in Dec 2016, but I cancelled it because things had changed drastically and we decided to place his ashes at Peasholm St Dog Beach instead.

However, with Kyle’s approaching birthday, Christmas and upcoming anniversaries of his death in Jan and funeral in Feb, I felt it would be nice to have a more permanent and public place for the family, and future family members, to go to connect and remember Kyle. I did some initial research and favoured the idea of a more secluded, peaceful and reflective site rather than a ground niche. So Trees, Seats and Rocks seemed the best option – regardless of expense, Kyle is my only son and he deserves the best, as would any of my children.

After having a good look around, we settled on a first and second choice of rocks (just in case the first one is not suitable for a personalised plaque which we are leaning towards). The first is just outside Magpie Loop, in Zimea Court, which is a beautiful open grassed area near the Children’s section and designed for families, with no ground niches nearby and surrounded by natural bush.

The rock itself looks a bit like “Dog Rock” which kind of clinched the deal for me knowing how much Kyle loved dogs. It overlooks the grassed area with the kangaroos lazing around and groups of blackboys and trees. Not unlike the area of his crash site where we go. It is also a place where tributes are allowed which we wanted.

The second choice is next to Cockatoo Trail, in Nuytsia Trail, and although set in bushland it has lots of ground niches around it and is a bit more squashed in.

But it’s only a second choice and the rock itself is very nice. We will find out in the next few days if all will be well with our first choice or not. The next stage is another appointment on 14.12.2017 to organise the actual commemorative, memorial plaque. We already have an idea of what we are after so hopefully it will go smoothly, although as it will be personalised it looks like it won’t be in place for his anniversaries as we had hoped – but better to get it right than on time!