I would like to post a memorium to my Nana

She did this month after nearly 101 years of life.

II never saw her as much as I would have liked, maybe because of this her words and the times I did see her were always appreciated and well remembered.

She told me to get on with things when my partner left me on my own with two kids under five, and gave me no sympathy- something that I will be eternally grateful for.

A year ago today was her surprise 100th birthday party. My sister and her husband came over from the U.S and my friend Max came from Australia. At this party
Max and I decided we would get married- finally- after nearly ten years of 'hummin and hawin'

Sadly Nana couldn't make my wedding (5th August 2007) as she had recently started to decline.

She wasn't ill, and never really suffered any illness, I guess she had just done all that she had to do.

I like to think she is with her husband and my mum now, and feel happy as I know they are together again.

It makes us all conscious of how delicate and short life really is. Especially when somebody with this much history quietly passes nd no fanfare sounds and nothing changes in the world.

Love each other as much as you can. Make time for the conversations and the questions you have always hesitated to ask, you never know when that right will be taken from you.

I never knew my Nana very well as a person, but have always admired and aspired to her values.

The week before she died, I went to visit her as she couldn't make my wedding, and I was emigrating.

We were looking at her rings, and on her right hand she had a gold signet ring. She told me it was the ring that her husband (then boyfriend) had bought her when he couldn't yet afford an engagement ring.

Her eyes still sparkled and her smile still held the warmth of those years, probably longer ago than many of us will experience.

Nana's husband died when my mum (her eldest was only fourteen) so we are looking at a woman who never remarried after that and spent nearly 70 years as a widow.

For years in Glasgow I had a vase with dried flowers in. Made up from dried flowers from my mums wreath, and dried honesty from Nana's front garden. I finally put them out, as I couldn't have brought them to Australia. But even the flowers hold so much value.