Nan

We went off to visit Nan to-day.

There's something about Grandmothers and food, isn't there. You visit? You eat. No eat? You get one *firm* grandmother. And Nan is no different. Here's Nan and me a few years back..... this was taken, I think, in 2004.

She's very old now, about 84. I think she will be 85 this Sept. And very frail. We all worry for her because she's wobbly on her feet and her memory is going; slowly but surely.

Nan's played a big part in my life; instead of day care or a babystter, I was fobbed off to Nan's house when I was in primary school. That's 7 - 12 years of age. And she's sort of moulded me.

All the little things that are important to me : good manners, graciousness, knowing why it's important to notice all the people that are arround you (which later develoepd in to good EQ), being a gracious hostess. All the socially fluffy things that made a woman a lady. Nan taught me that. And Nan is certainly enough of a lady to lead by example.

One day, whilst I was in my early teens, Nan asked me if I used tampons or napkins.

Nan : Darling, you're growing up into a woman now. Which do you use?
Me : A mixture of both, Nan.
Nan : Do you go to parties, darling?
Me : Yes, Nanny, sometimes I do.
Nan : You must always use tampons, darling. *nods head firmly*
Me : Really? But why?
Nan : Because when you're out there dancing at parties, and a man feels you up, he won't feel a thing!

haha. One of the many things she's said to me through the years which I remember! She's an absolutely darling herself. And I wish Grandpop was alive long enough for me to have met him. He must have been one heck of a man to have married Nan. She was fiesty herself in her younger days!

After Grandpop passed on, Nan never remarried and she raised all the kids herself. She's been supporting them (if you can imagine it) since WAY back when Grandpop bought the matrimonial home. Nan sold it off, moved into a much smaller house, and even up until to-day, when her kids are in their 40s and 50s, she still worries about money. For them.

I remember another story, one she related, of when the Japanese occupied Singapore during WWII, of how she was making milk for my Dad, of when he was a baby, and how she ducked as bullets were fired into her kitchen. *shakes head*

Nan was strong and fiesty, in an age where women went off to become secretaries or nurses and at that, only until they were married off....


What a woman; my inspiration!