18/10/2026
On the 22nd October 2026 will mark 6 years since my grandad left.. 6 years!
6 years of wishing I could pick up the phone, hear your voice, have one of your hugs or just sit and have a conversation with you.
6 years of learning how to live in a world that feels a little different without you in it.
6 years of becoming a woman you never got to see me become.
You see, when you left us on 22nd October 2020, I don’t think I truly understood how much that day would shape the rest of my life.
I didn’t know that grief would become something I would have to learn to carry. I didn’t know how many times I’d wish for just five more minutes. And I certainly didn’t know that, one day, the pain of losing you would become the reason behind something so incredibly special.
I never wanted to turn my grief into a business. I just wanted to keep my grandad close. 🤍
And that’s where it all began.
Not with a business plan. Not with a dream of awards, recognition, or helping hundreds of families.
It began with a granddaughter who missed her grandad.And from that heartbreak, Aj’s Ashes was born.
A name created from your initials. A business built around love, remembrance and the belief that losing someone doesn’t mean we have to lose everything that connects us to them🫶🏻
Today, I get to help other families do what I desperately wanted to do for myself. I get to take the most precious parts of someone’s story and help turn them into something they can hold close💞
I wish you could see how far your name has travelled. How many people have found comfort in something that began because I couldn’t bear the thought of being without you.
I wish you could see the woman I’ve become, the business I’ve built, and the little girls who carry your initials in their names.
But your legacy hasn’t ended with your life.
It lives in the stories I tell. It lives in the memories I protect. It lives in the love I pass down to my girls. And it lives in every family who finds a little comfort through the business that carries your initials.
One of the things you taught me was:
“Face miles of trials with piles of smiles.”
“The art of living is getting used to what I didn’t expect.”
I understand those words differently now.
Because life certainly hasn’t turned out the way I expected. Losing you was never part of the plan. Learning to live with grief wasn’t something I ever wanted to have to do.
But somehow, I’ve learned to keep going. To build something from the broken pieces. To find purpose in the pain without pretending the pain isn’t still there.
Six years on, I still miss you. I still wish you were here. And no amount of success, time or beautiful things I’ve created will ever change that.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that love doesn’t end where life does.
Thank you for the memories, the lessons, the laughter and the love that I will carry for the rest of my life🫶🏻
6 years without you here, but a lifetime of love that will never leave.
Face miles of trials with piles of smiles.
I miss you more than words could ever explain🫶🏻
