Goodbye Nan

It's taken me a bit of time to gather my thoughts enough to write this post and nothing that I put in here can come close to summing up everything I want to say about her.  To say that the last two weeks have been somewhat of a roller-coaster of emotions would be an understatement, and even now there are still surreal moments where it doesn't seem real.  Nan, your passing was a shock, but I can take comfort in that you passed how you wanted to.  You looked like you had just fallen asleep.



I look back on my life and come to realise that you were responsible to shaping it in ways I didn't even know at the time.

Whenever I was told to picture someone of great strength, you are the one whom I always saw.  The struggles you pulled your family through as they were growing up, on your own, made you the very definition of strong for me.  Standing tall, no matter what, always moving forward.  That iron will, however, was tempered with love for the family.  You were always first to give to someone who needed help in the family and I always remember that the troubles of life seemed so much less troublesome with a simple hug and a kiss from you.  You had a way of making me feel like the most important person in the world when your face would light up with a smile when I came to see you and you would sit and listen to me rattle on about the latest fad or gadget that I had taken an interest in.

You taught me the simple joys of sitting around a table and playing game of cards.  The laughter we shared over the years, from when we would be euchred because of a terrible call one of us made at the start of the hand, to you being told off for talking with your mouth full, only for you to take another bite and continue talking just to prove a point will always echo within my memory.  And while it is hard at the moment to accept that I won't see you anymore, I know that you will always be with me.  Until we meet upon the road again nan.