Goodbye Nana

Aged 21

Nana

28th December 1931 - 3rd March 2012

My lovely, kind, generous, altruistic, caring and beautiful Nana passed away on Saturday 3rd March, aged 80. It was very sudden. She had spent the Friday gardening and making dinner for my Mum and brother, she spoke to Mum about how happy she had been feeling lately and talked about all the things she was looking forward to. But it was not to be. She fell at 7pm and was gone by 4am.

Nana and Grandpa, 2nd April 1955

With her first child, Edward.

Nana wrote a beautiful poem after her 70th birthday, I won't post it as it is private but it describes a plan that God has for her life and her death. It seems that this was all in her plan, she was feeling happy and optimistic after a long spell of depression. All her family were around her during the last hours she had in hospital so we could all say our goodbyes and she peacefully took God's hands and went with him. Nana would have absolutely hated to have become dependant on others so she would have been so relieved to know that this is how she went.

It is strange as I am not religious yet I have taken comfort from knowing that Nana did not fear death because she believed she would one day be in a better place.

On the first narrow boat they owned - Christopher James, made by their own fair hands! They dressed in traditional gear at boat rallies.

I love the way she's looking up at Grandpa in this photo!

Nana devoted her whole entire life to helping others; she started off as a nursery nurse before having her own family and then she worked with disabled children for the rest of her working life, in her retirement she did a lot for her church and helped many people out there. She had a big part in my childhood too as I lived with her for 5 months a year for 5 years in a row when I was aged 9-13 whilst my Mum took my brother to the Peto Institute in Hungary for conductive education. This was a huge sacrifice on her part as she had to move from Birmingham to Newmarket, away from Grandpa, her job, her church and all her friends so that my older brother and I could continue on at our schools and still live at home. Now there is not many people in this world that would do all that! We always went to Birmingham to be with them during all our school holidays too. Nana and Grandpa took us out all over Great Britain to museums, castles and other places of interest and they talked to us the whole time, teaching us about everything possible! They had their own narrow boat and we had many a holiday cruising along canals in England and Wales. They drove us to see Mum every Easter through Europe, stopping off at every city along the way. We spent a whole month in the Seychelles with them too when I was 7 because my Auntie lived there at the time. So as you can see, I probably spent almost half of my childhood with my Nana. 

Nana and Grandpa on their 25th wedding anniversary. 

My relationship with Nana was a little bit tense at times, thinking about it now I was probably naturally angry and resentful that my Mum had gone away for a long time plus my dad was not around either and I directed it towards Nana because she was the only one who was there with me.

She was quite a forceful woman, Mum and I always said she was like a whirlwind when she walked in through our door and she was! The last few years though have been lovely and Nana and I have enjoyed much better times together. She was very proud of me and thought of us all every day. She especially loved her two great grand-children, she called them 'her girls'.

Nothing could prepare me for the shock of this wonderful woman suddenly leaving my life and I had absolutely no idea just how much I loved her and how much I miss her. I would do anything to hear her voice nagging me again! I have reflected so much these last two weeks about all the things I have learnt from my Nana and all the things I still need to learn too. I have a lot to live up to.

I shall be reading out a letter to her today at her celebration service, I hope she can hear me. 

Two inspirational and wonderful women. My role models, Mum and Nana - Christmas 2008.