My grandma was a WAG

I've been looking through some old stuff that I wrote and I found this post on an old blog that I wrote briefly when I was working as a freelance audio typist and virtual assistant.

My company name, Vera and Bess, is the name of two nans, both very creative and skilled at many crafts.  They were both amazing too, loving, funny, strong, clever, kind.  I miss them both.

This is what I wrote:

Yesterday was my nan’s funeral.  She was a week shy of her 94th birthday and she died quietly, in her sleep.  It doesn’t stop those of us who loved her from feeling bereft, from mourning the loss of the woman who’s been in every day of our lives.

As is traditional, during the ceremony at the crematorium, we heard about her life, about the woman she was.  And as I listened, I realised two things: that I only knew her as my nan, that our relationship was that of a child to a grandparent; and that we had more in common than I ever imagined.  I knew that my nan could sew and knit and made beautiful patchwork cushions, that I had inherited her cake baking skills (although I will never, ever be as amazing with a whisk as she was).  I didn’t know that she adored Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, as do I, one of many little details of her life that were shared with us.  I didn’t know that she was scared of thunderstorms, that she loved motorbike racing, that she was once a WAG.

My nan was my nan.  And sadly, looking back now, I can see that I never got to know her as an adult, I only knew her as my nan.  I was always a child in our relationship, despite being 43 now and a mum of three myself.  I never made the leap from you’re my nan, I know who you are, to who is Bessie, the woman who is my nan.  I so wish I had.  I think we would have been good friends.

Why am I telling you this?  Because it might not be too late for you to look at your nan, or your grandad, or your aunt, or your dad, and say who are you?  It’s not to late to get to know your family as people, individuals.  You’ll be surprised, delighted, intrigued.  And your lives and relationships will be enriched, I promise you.

As for me, I’m going to dig out my Ella Fitzgerald CD and remember the amazing woman that was my nan.