What to do to commemorate anniversary?

[kitchenSink5]

It'll be my dad's 10th anniversary tomorrow and I'm still heartbroken and can't not well up every time it enters my mind - same with my mum's anniversary. I am/was an only child (even the tenses here are no longer straight forward). For the first few years we had catholic masses for anniversaries - but they have stopped now and I am not religious anyway but now I feel at a loss for how to commemorate the day. Over recent years I just feel like a go into a deep sadness for the day and I want to try not to do that and focus on something to acknowledge my lovely dad.

Has anyone got any ideas what I could do? I can't get to the graves (they are 200 miles away and over the border in the south of Ireland).

I am not religious but still feel to the heart the death of my DH nearly five years ago. By that I mean still struggling with grief.

Always I've taken off with DD to a pleasant, place: beach and meal to mark that day. It has always been wonderful: unclouded joy. In my own experience, the build up to the day was very sad, the day itself exhilarating. My DH's ashes are still not buried.

I can see this doesn't entirely answer your question, but hope it is helpful in some way,

We’ve got my dads 1st in September and will be going to the cemetery & all of us are having his favourite dinner in the evening. Although you can’t go to his grave is there somewhere you can go that you went together? Or if you can’t go to a location then something that you liked doing together? I’m thinking of planting a rose bush in my garden too so that I can think of him near home. 💐

Maybe plant a tree like PP said, it’s a nice way of having something close to you that you can think of them?

My DM first anniversary is next month and I probably won’t do a lot due to restrictions but we are planning to go as a family to the place we scattered her ashes in Summer for her birthday, have a picnic and enjoy some good cake! It will always be a sad day, especially after the utterly rubbish year we have all had.