I Remember

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The morning after the funeral, I sat and wrote for a while, recording the afternoon for myself. But really, a description of 45 minutes of me crying and hugging people doesn’t make for a fascinating narrative. I thought I’d take a cue from a speech my cousin made at the funeral, which she began with “These are some memories I have.” So, these are some memories I have of my grandmother:

1. Playing in her garden, walking with my brother through the stepping stones between flower beds, and climbing in the fig tree. Eating figs warm from the sun.
2. Being given handmade lavender bags to put under my pillow, made with lavender harvested from her garden.
3. The container of meringues that lived on top of the fridge.
4. The time when she visited us up north, and came to a yoga class with Mum and me - we were three generations in the front row.
5. Lolling around on the squishy lounge chairs with the arm covers that always slipped off.
6. The beetle magnets on the fridge door.
7. Bringing her breakfast in bed - a pot of tea, and Promite toast cut into soldiers.
8. Sitting beside her dressing table and watching her brush her long white hair, and pin it up with combs.
9. “Yardarm,” she would say, glancing at the clock - it was always time for a little drink at 6pm.
10. Her loud and frequent laughter - I loved visiting her with my mother, and listening to us all laughing together.

I felt so close to my family as they all stood up and spoke of the wonderful woman we all loved so much, but I particularly liked hearing my cousin’s memories, mostly because I shared many of them. She had the pleasure of taking her own children to climb the fig tree, and eating home-made meringues - it makes me feel glad that there are so many generations of the family that share those same memories. She’s still there in all our hearts.

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