It all became quite real today, very final. More than 500 people gathered this morning in Palmerston Church to remember her and say their last good-byes. Many accompanied her to the cemetery in Bailieborough, Co. Cavan, her last resting place, up on a windswept hill. She had asked for everybody there to be invited to the Hotel Bailie. So many people followed that invitation that at first there weren’t enough tables and seats for everybody.

So many people in grief. So many people with tears rolling down their cheeks. So many people feeling an incredible loss. So many people being reminded of their own mortality, perhaps reminded of another loss they suffered some time ago.

I can’t get to grips with this grief. Can’t get to grips with that terrible sadness that comes with grief. I cried my eyes out this morning. The biggest question in my head was how much more is there to come? I, for one, have had enough.

In any case, it’s clear what there is to do and it’s clear what Louise would have liked us to do.

It was Pádraig’s longest day, with no breaks except for the drive to Cavan and back. He won’t forget today’s journey. Neither, I suspect, will any of us.