So Long

We lost another family member today. Nan Stockley, Robbie's grandmother, passed away this morning. Details are still kind of sketchy, but details are not what are important right now. She will be deeply missed.

My first time meeting Minnie was under sad circumstances. Minnie's daughter, Robbie's mom, has passed away from lung cancer, and she was down for the funeral. She was very sweet, and told me that Vera had spoken highly of me. She asked me to come into the room to view Vera's body with her. She asked me to pray.

The second time I saw Minnie was the last. I was four months pregnant, and we had surprised her by flying to Toronto on what would have been Vera's 50th birthday. She was doting, caring, loving and still so sweet. I remember her being very concerned with my eating, and she was continually offering me food. A can of pineapples. A tray of bananas. A sandwich. She was desperate to see me eat. Had I said the word, I'm sure she would've cooked a four course meal.

Minnie was always the doting grandmother. She called nearly weekly, and I talked to her not a week ago. She'd sent Elodie a birthday card. Elodie was so excited to get it. She was shocked that mail had come for her. It's a shame that Elodie will never get to meet Minnie.

It seems like Robbie and his brother have lost so much family the last few years. First their mother, then their Pop and now their Nan. It's something that I haven't experienced the way they have. I still have three of my grandparents, my dad's mother having passed away when I was two.

I guess all one can do is hold onto the memories. Remember the good times and not the end. Minnie had a great story that she told me about when she was in labor with her twin daughters, Vera and Verna. She told her husband, Charlie, that she was in labor. He asked if it could wait until morning. She promptly told him, no, she was in labor now.

It was snowing, as it usually is in December in Newfoundland, and Minnie was taken by sled as close to the hospital as they could get. She had to walk the last half a kilometer in the snow by herself. Rather than waiting for a bed, she ended up giving birth to the oldest twin, Verna, in an office.

I will miss Minnie. I'm sad that I didn't get to know her better. I will remember her stories, though, and I hope that she is happy in the afterlife with her daughter and her husband there to hold her hand.