My Nana
On July 8, 2012 my beloved grandmother passed from this life to the next. She had been in the hospital for a few days with what we thought might be pneumonia, and in the early hours of that Sunday, she left this world, peacefully in her sleep. She had her at least one of her children keeping constant vigil with her at her bedside in the hospital, a testament to the bond she forged with her large brood.
There are so many beautiful memories of this woman that have been flooding me lately. I spent so much of my childhood in her home, running around her flat with my siblings and cousins, watching Montreal Canadian hockey games with the unlikely fan of the barely 5" tall grandmother, playing hooky from school to watch Muppet movies, listening in awe to Nana quote lengthy passages from Shakespeare despite having lost some of her memory, and hearing her amazing stories of raising eight children with almost no income, but so much heart, spunk and determination.
She suffered a great deal in her life. Her family life was hard -- a marriage with lots of challenges, poverty, losing a teenaged son -- and yet she loved her children so fiercely and raised them so well. And her heart couldn't be limited in loving and mother her own children. Rather, she took on her neighbours, the playmates of her grandchildren and later on, their boyfriends and girlfriends, all as though they were her own family. The love and generosity she showed others made her a living saint.
Now, I believe, she is a saint still, only she is more alive than ever.
There are so many beautiful memories of this woman that have been flooding me lately. I spent so much of my childhood in her home, running around her flat with my siblings and cousins, watching Montreal Canadian hockey games with the unlikely fan of the barely 5" tall grandmother, playing hooky from school to watch Muppet movies, listening in awe to Nana quote lengthy passages from Shakespeare despite having lost some of her memory, and hearing her amazing stories of raising eight children with almost no income, but so much heart, spunk and determination.
She suffered a great deal in her life. Her family life was hard -- a marriage with lots of challenges, poverty, losing a teenaged son -- and yet she loved her children so fiercely and raised them so well. And her heart couldn't be limited in loving and mother her own children. Rather, she took on her neighbours, the playmates of her grandchildren and later on, their boyfriends and girlfriends, all as though they were her own family. The love and generosity she showed others made her a living saint.
Now, I believe, she is a saint still, only she is more alive than ever.
Your Nana has been in lots of my chaplets lately. She was a wonderful woman and I am better for having known her. God bless you all. Mom said that the most touching thing about the whole funeral was how moved your father was by his MIL's passing. You have a beautiful family - Gannons, Craines and newest Craines.
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