Meg Aubrey
Nana cherished my childhood. My parents remind me that each time they called her for assistance she was there. We used to sit at the tiny table in the living room and she would teach English, math & etiquette. We'd play hide and seek for recess and even nana would hide in the hall closet. When she couldn't find us she'd say olly olly oxen free & we'd crack up laughing because no one else we knew said such a thing.
Nana cherished simple vacations. She would rent a hotel room in Mansfield which is between Columbus and strongsville. I used to feel spoiled looking up through the glass paned pool room, my seven year old legs soaking in the spa.
Nana cherished turtle neck shirts, blue jeans, white socks with yellow tip and in her jacket pocket I could always find a folded tissue which she conserved and used all day long.
Nana always walked slow. And though she was part of no formal religion her way of being influences me when I need to make space in my life for prayer and meditation- which slow me down and raise my awareness.
It was hard for nana when I started growing up. During my pre teen years she would laugh her laugh and shake her head and ask me to remember when I was little and how much fun we'd have. I'd be dreaming of my future and I'd tell her I didn't want to think of my childhood.
Now I do & I wish I'd entertained her memory when she'd asked.
Nana always sent me newspaper clippings with her letters once I was in high school and college. She always hoped to relate to me by showing her interest in the medical field- new advances in technology, or stories of nurses who touched the lives of their patients. So she appreciated 'the way things were' but also shared with me a sense of awe at the present/ future.
I cherish my three years at Kent state when I lived just an hour from nana and I visited every couple of months. Visits to nana always included playing tennis or basketball with rob and I do think we all felt younger when we met up to spend time together just like we did during my childhood.
It was very hard for Nana and Rob when I moved to Tucson Arizona because it is very far away and I've never known nana to fly on a plane. Nana always encouraged my work when I found it meaningful. To living on the border nana said 'well Meghan just loves everybody' and she'd talk about our family history as immigrants to Plymouth Rock. She tells our ancestory with beautiful details and I continue to mourn the loss of her perspective, her experiences and her knowledge of the people through whom I am here today.
When I returned from travels in Kenya Nana and Rob came to visit Me at the home of mom, Andy and Ray in silver spring MD. That was the last time we shared a bed & just like my childhood I fell asleep to the slow even breaths in Nana's chest and the overflowing sound of Bill Bennetts voice or another AM radio show from Detroit or Cleveland. I never knew nana sleep without headphones.
My mom cherished that trip to D.C. Because I accompanied nana to the bathroom and up and down the stairs. The way we just to. Nana made fun out of her physical limitations. Scooting down the carpeted stairs.
The last contact I made with Nana was this Mother's Day and only for a few moments because she was aware of her sickness and she told me she was on her way out. I cried on corals grandma kezy's front porch because I knew she was sick and that more than likely she would not meet coral, her great grand baby who was still in utero on Mother's Day.
His due date was her 90th birthday.
I know nana would have loved coral. Just as I carry on nanas attributes and values so will baby Andrew & baby Coral and those who join us this next generation.
I'm at a loss for what more to say, loving nana is a consistent part of my whole life. All of us who know her knows she was ready to pass on so in that sense I am glad for her release from this material body. I have many pictures of Nana up in my home and when it's quiet I feel her spirit visit me. I have a sense that Nana and Robert, my grandpa, have reunited and that they protect and cherish me and baby Coral. Our love energy lives on and always will. Xoxoxoxo
