Funeral and burial costs for Natalie Brunato

My name is Andrew Brunato. Natalie’s funeral was Thursday October 13th 2022. In the short time since I am having a very difficult time trying to get back to some kind of normalcy as I no longer can go home and I can’t go back to work yet at this time due to the massive trauma I have faced in the loss of my wife and unborn child. I will be attending therapy and counselling as well as bereavement groups to aid me through this impossible situation. The funeral was beautiful and had many people attend to pay their respects. If you wish to view the funeral there is a recording at this link: https://funeraweb.tv/en/diffusions/61524

The Eulogy I wrote for Natalie:

Words can’t express the sorrow I feel in my heart. Natalie was so much to so many people. She was my true love, my beautiful wife, my soulmate and my best friend. She showed me a love and passion like i had never felt before.

I met Natalie at a wedding, and fell in love with her the moment I saw her. She had a white floral dress on and her hair was done in a half up half down braid. We both were at the ends of toxic relationships and we realized us meeting that night was fate. I lived about 2 hours away from her at the time and almost immediately moved to be closer to her. It wasn’t long until we were inseparable. I even introduced her to my family as “my future wife”. We both thought it was too soon to say “I love you” even though we knew how we felt inside and wound up blurting it out at the same time.

Natalie volunteered with the OPP as an auxiliary officer for many years. She began doing ride alongs, recruitment as well as other things and later got into doing more of the child seat installation courses for new parents. She loved children. Initially she wanted to become an RCMP officer, she went much farther than a vast majority of people within the program but fell just short of the very end due to mental health reasons.

Mental health too often goes unseen in the busyness of life. Most of us suffer from some form but often are too busy to address it. Both Natalie and I had struggled with mental health issues in our pasts and we helped support each other through hard times, she was my rock and I was hers. Natalie was off work due to mental health reasons for over 2 years of our time together. We attended group meetings twice a week went to OCD specific groups only available downtown Toronto every week for almost a year. I was her coach throughout it. I would gather all the information she might need and go over it with her at the speed she needed, we were “Team Natalie”. I couldn’t have done it alone though, and I thank all who tried to help Natalie in her struggle you know who you are and you are loved by me for it.

But now…

What cruel fate is this? So much ahead of us... It’s just not fair. A billion things run through my mind while I lay awake at night without her. How can the world go on? Don’t people realize she’s gone? I’ve spent weeks crying, praying for answers, asking for a sign… Has God forgotten me? Did he forget her?

There is no telling how long our flame of life will burn for, or how much or little the fire will warm others around you. They say “Just as one candle lights another and can light thousands of other candles, so one heart illuminates another heart and can illuminate thousands of other hearts.” Natalie’s flame was extremely vibrant, lighting the fire inside of everyone she came across and her heart illuminated everyone around her. Now her candle has burnt out, the world will not be quite as bright. A piece of her remains with me, but a piece of me died with her and I will never be the same again.

To my baby, I heard your heart beat strong as can be, vibrant with life waiting to be loved. A candle not yet lit with the flame of this world but warmed my soul with the pride of being their father. When I found out I was going to be a dad I immediately got scared…What kind of dad would I be? But Every day that went forward I became more confident in my own abilities and knew that I was going to be the best dad that I could be. This is not goodbye for you are both with me every step of every day. You are in my thoughts every minute of every day. Nothing will bring you back, but you will never be truly gone.

Funeral and burial cost is upwards of $30,000. I really hate asking for help in times like these, but I really would like to get Natalie a nice granite headstone facing the pond and nature area at the cemetery so I can sit against it with her and be close to her and hold it, since I’ll never hold her again.