Nanna Peggy

Since I only started blogging today, I missed the opportunity to mark the anniversary of my Nanna Peggy's death. She died almost a year ago today, on the 11th January 2010. I didn't get to see her before she died. It happened very quickly. My sister and Mum both called me to tell me that they thought I should come down to Kent and I was planning on going down the next day, but by that morning she had gone.
Of all the times I have ever wished to be at home, this was the worst. I didn't get to say Goodbye, I didn't get to be there when everyone went through her belongings and cried and grieved together. But I know that my Nanna knew that I loved her and that is all that matters at the end of the day. 
By the time she died she wasnt the same Nanna I knew and loved. She didn't really know who I was the last time I saw her, but she was happy to see me and the girls. Eden was still only 6 months old then and she sat by Nanna and kept putting her hand in Nanna's mouth and Nanna was pretending to bite her. 
She would call my Mum her 'very special friend' and this must have been so bitter sweet for Mum. She didn't remember she was her daughter, but she knew she was very special.

Throughout my childhood, Sunday mornings were dedicated to family get-togethers at Nanna's house. She was completely the heart of the family, and I have always understood that our family were special. We always put that time aside to be together and those memories of growing up around my cousins and aunts and uncles are precious. The thing I used to love the most was Nanna's coconut cakes and she told me on more than one occasion that she made them especially for me. 
She was the best hugger. I would love nothing more than snuggling up with her and having her arm around me. She would pat me and stroke my hair and hum and hum and most times I would end up asleep. I remember that she would tell me stories of when she was younger, but when I was a teenager, I didn't apprieciate how precious those stories were. I remember bits, but had I known how much I regret not paying attention, I would have hung on to her every word.

My Nanna and Grandad are an inspiration to me in my marriage. They fought like cat and dog, but they stayed together through thick and thin :-) 
Nothing meant more to my Nanna than family. We all meant the world to her, and she knows that she meant the world to us too. I know that she is missed everyday by a lot of people.

I love you Nanna xxxxx