Losing someone you love is a feeling that cannot be described in words.
The grief can last for weeks, months, and ultimately years.
But even as time heals many wounds, the sadness and loss will always remain.
Over forty years ago, Sylvia Ross lost her beloved father, and since then, she has visited his grave every day.
She has tended to the grave, planted flowers, and feels a certain peace at the place where her father lies.
But recently, she found out that it was all a lie.
The grave she had been visiting for over forty years turned out to belong to an entirely different person, reports the British Metro.
Even though death is as natural as life, it is just as difficult every time you are confronted with it.
When someone you love passes away, a part of yourself disappears at the same time.
All the memories remain, of course, but the desire to experience things together will never be fulfilled.
It is a darkness you must pass through to come out on the other side – into the light.
Sylvia Ross knows exactly how the pain of losing a loved one feels.
Over forty years ago, she said goodbye to her beloved father, John Thomas Thompson.
For all those years, she has visited his grave that she has meticulously cared for, in Auckland, New Zealand.
She has always left flowers when he had a birthday, at Christmas, or on other holidays that meant a lot to the family.
It has been a place where Sylvia experienced peace and tranquility, and seemed to feel a close bond with her father.
But after all these years of visiting the grave, the family received shocking news.
Wrong man buried in the cemetery
The grave where they had spent a lot of time turned out to belong to a complete stranger named Frederick Brown, writes the British Metro.
But then what happened to John?
It turned out that he was buried in the same cemetery – but a little further away.
“She was devastated when she learned that her father had been there, thinking that none of us cared about him, no flowers, no visits, nothing,” says Sylvia’s daughter Lynette.
“We are disgusted, and my mother is deeply saddened. I never met my grandfather, but my mother has visited his grave for 43 years and is completely devastated.”
The fatal error was discovered when the family saw someone hang a sign with a different name on the grave where they thought John was buried.
Upon further investigation, John was found to be buried farther away.
“When my grandfather died, my mother called the church council and asked them to place a marker where he was buried so she knew where to go,” the daughter says.
“They placed it on the plot we had visited all my life and where we brought flowers for every birthday, Christmas, and Father’s Day, while he was actually never there.”
“It’s just disgusting, how can they get something so simple so wrong.”
The church council is now apologizing to the family and has moved the graves so that John is now in his rightful place.
Crushing news. No one should have to go through this! Strength to the family during this difficult time!
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