My Gran

My Grandmother passed away on Tuesday September 12th. I wanted to say something at her funeral but I never would have made it through. It was hard enough just being there. But there were a lot of things I wanted to say. My grandma didn't have an easy life, her mother passed away when she was quite young and she and her 6 brothers and sisters were raised by her father in a time when that was unheard of. She was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy in her late teens. She met and married my grandfather and had two sons, my uncle Dave and my dad. When my dad was 3 years old my grandfather left her for another woman. My grandma, being a devout catholic, never remarried and raised her boys all on her own. She was a strong woman, she did whatever needed to be done and never complained about it. She worked multiple jobs, day and night, to provide for her family.

Growing up, I spent a lot of my time with my gran, she looked after me while my parents were at work. I have a lot of happy memories from that time, shopping at Carlingwood, having lunch at Aylmer Barbeque with her friends, baking cakes, and my favourite, watching my gran sit at the breakfast table every morning with her newspaper, coffee, toast and banana and wanting to be like her so much that I asked for the same thing. She'd take a mug and put a bit of coffee in the bottom and then fill it with milk and some sugar and hand me the cartoons and we'd share what I thought was a very grown-up breakfast ritual. That's what I always loved about her, she never said no to anything new I wanted to try, she never said she didn't have time to answer my questions, to reading me Cinderella for the 200th time, to letting me have cookies for breakfast, or even a pair of red size 7 high heels I wanted when I was 3. She made me feel like the most special kid who ever lived. But I guess I wasn't the only one she did this for. So many of her friends came up to me at her funeral and said that she was their best friend. They said she was a generous, thoughful, and fun woman, but I already knew all that.

She taught me to be a strong independent woman, and that I was as smart as anyone in the room and to never say I can't do something without trying. She taught me compassion for others and to appreciate all the good in my life cause not everyone had it as good as I did. She taught me not to be shy. She taught me to shine.

She started to get sick around christmas and it progressed rapidly. She lost the ability to talk and eat, and she lost the use of her left arm. Her only way to communicate was through pantomime and writing with her right hand which was starting to go as well. But she didn't lose her sense of humour. I went to visit her when I was 36 weeks pregnant and she said I was going to deliver the thanksgiving turkey. When I came back a month later she cried when she saw Lily, she never thought she'd make it to see me get married let alone her great-grandchild. She only held Lily briefly as she was getting vey weak but it was such a precious moment for me.

When she passed away she was all alone. At first I couldn't bear the thought of it, but I realized that she wasn't alone really. The angels were there to take her home and give her the peace she deserved, cause if anyone ever deserved to go to Heaven, it was my gran.

I miss you so much Gran. I love you.

Amanda