Goodbye Granny

This post has nothing to do with writing or my life in Nagano, but it is about someone who is very special to me. On March 7th 2014, my grandmother Evelyn Mary Ward passed away, aged 94. This is a letter from me to my granny.

  

 For Granny

You passed away on Friday 7^th March after thirty-five years of devoted service as my grandmother. It’s hard to put into words just how much you meant to me. My childhood is full of wonderful memories of outings and games and walks and days on the beach, all of it set against a background of kindness and love which personified you. For if there was ever anything you taught me it was about how easy it was to show kindness to someone else, not bound by duty or religion or employment or anything; simply giving kindness because it was there to give.

Throughout my childhood your house was a safe haven from the rest of the world. Where Grandad was a font of knowledge and an inspiration for many of the things I have achieved in life, you were the fun and the games. There are so many things I wish I’d asked you while I had the chance, and now never will.

Even after I left England you never forgot about me. I have kept every single letter, card and note that you have sent me over the eleven years that I’ve lived out of the country, and now they mean more than ever. Even though you were halfway across the world, you were never far from my thoughts. Granny, you may be gone, but you will never be gone. You will live on in my memory and my heart for as long as I live.

Chris