Goodbye Nan

This photo was taken about 2.5 years ago and she was already very frail and starting to suffer from Dementia. She was on a very good day and was delighted to meet Bud and it was the last proper conversation I had with her. She went downhill quite quickly from that point onward and her condition gradually worsened until the end, on Sunday 25th November. 

My Nana was a wonderful woman. She had twelve children and raised eleven of them, sadly outliving three of them. She was married three times and lost her third husband, her beloved Mac, eleven years ago. She never really recovered from that. She was born into extreme poverty, one of five girls and two boys. The boys both died in infancy and her passing has seen the end of her family, all her sisters died before her. She was a true matriarch, the figurehead of a sprawling family, it would take me far too long to work out how many children she called Grandchild, Great-Grandchild or Great-Great Grandchild (with all the connotations of step families and remarriages by her children) but she was devoted to her family and loved nothing more than to be surrounded by them. She was incredibly strong, and tenacious, with a fabulous sense of humour and fun.

I have this photo on my fridge and I stop to look at it almost every time I open it. I often wonder how many babies passed through those arms and I know she thought each one was very special. I think Bud was the last baby she was strong enough to hold and I see a precious moment between Bud and a Great-Grandmother he will never know. I really wish he, and Little Miss, had been able to get to know the amazingly strong and loving woman that I was proud to call Nan. They'll just have to settle for a very special Guardian Angel.

Goodnight Nana, I love you and I miss you.

Sleep well.