One of many amazing things about Nan is how she sat as the matriarch of this beautifully bonkers family, quite unassumingly, shaping us all to be better people. A family that loves each other unconditionally that are able to support each other regardless of any ups or downs because she taught us that. She had an innate quality of loving us and watching over us knowing and understanding every step of our own journeys. She knew us all better than we know ourselves. What an achievement for an 86 year old mum, grandmother and great grandmother who will, forever, leave us in awe of her incredible character.
We know Nan was an angel on earth and are even more sure that she is a remarkable angel in heaven. Quite surreally, but wonderfully typical of Nan she chose to leave us on her birthday, a day she loved so much, so that we can celebrate her life as we have always done. Despite the sadness of our loss nan expects us to acknowledge her final statement with some comfort of all she has achieved. Her benevolent legacy will continue to inspire anyone who knew her forever.
Such amazing memories and such beautiful unique reminders of Nan will make us smile (and sometimes cry) for all of our lives. Thoughts of jigsaws, crosswords, post it notes, selection boxes, shortbreads, hankies, olbas oil, flannels, to name but a few, will never be far from our minds. And, let us not forget how she secretly (or so she thought) would feel any unopened birthday or Christmas presents to guess what was inside them and how funny it was to watch an 80 year old hang on to a pass-the-parcel so she stood a better chance of winning!
At family events in recent years Nan, amusingly, would readily slope off from the kitchen into the front room to escape her noisy bunch of nearest and dearest so she could ‘get a bit of peace’ and ‘read’ the telly!
What a life and what a loss........
joanne yost
20th November 2017
