This evening, I rewarded myself with some ice cream. Of course, this was Smarties Ice Cream, because that’s the best kind.

I’m not sure how or when Ailish and I decided Smarties Ice Cream was the best. I remember, early in our relationship, Ailish introduced me to Marble Slab ice cream. After trying a few different flavours, I quickly settled on coffee + cream, mixed in with skor bits. Once I found that combination, I stuck with it. So declaring Smarties ice cream to be the optimal choice is absolutely something that I would do.

Except, of course, it would have been totally out of character for Ailish to go along with that. This is a woman who rearranged the living room every three or four months. Who painted the kitchen because she didn’t like the colour. Who thought we should perhaps sleep in the kitchen and move the coffee maker and dishwasher into the bedroom, just to keep things interesting.

Still, we somehow settled on Smarties ice cream. And for the life of me, I cannot imagine Ailish accepting that unless she had come up with the plan.

Really, the only way out is that Ailish preferred potato chips.

Earlier this month, the cemetery installed the headstone we ordered for Ailish. The expression we used, “A chuisle mo chroí”, is an Irish term that literally means “pulse of my heart”, but figuratively means “my love” or “my darling.”

To me, the expression represents the love I had for Ailish, the love her family and her friends had for her, and the love she had for all of us. I’m happy we could use an Irish expression for this; much as Ailish loved Canada, she was also fiercely proud to be Irish.

I am very happy with how the headstone turned out. The engraved rose, in particular, is beautiful.