On September
24 2013 my Nana died. I was lucky enough to have some last fleeting moments
with her. In fact when I arrived at her home on that day, she perked up when I
walked in, she smiled and said my name and was gone twelve hours later. It was
surreal. I felt blessed to have some
last moments with her. That week in
September also brought my brother and me face to face for the first time in
about four years. We had a brief
conversation where my take away, as suspected, is that nothing is changed and
most likely never will. Interestingly, I’m
past it.
The funeral
and wake were fine. It wasn’t a huge
emotional carnival. Firstly, we’re not built that way and secondly Nana lived
almost one hundred and two years. She
was unwell for the last two months of her life and no one should suffer; least
of all my Nana. As grandmothers go, my
Nana was great. We were close, not so close that I shared everything with her
or her with me. There were aspects of
each of our lives that we kept apart.
That is ok, her generation didn’t share everything and maybe I learned
that lesson well from her.
Sitting here two months out, now I feel profound sadness
and loss. I keep wanting to call her on
the telephone. Instead, I talk to her, much like I still talk to John and pray
to God.
Thankfully,
for the sake of my dad, I’d arranged for dad and mom to travel with me to
Ireland for ten days in October. I think that the trip helped ease both of them
through the process of Nana’s passing.
We had a great time and the trip was structured in a way to make dad
comfortable. Still, TSA and the mess
that is the American airport leave me scratching my head. I wonder, exactly who
won the battle on September 11? I don’t think it was the American traveler or
air transit system. The screening system is silly, stupid and inefficient.
There are indeed scores of blue shirted TSA employees standing around doing
little if nothing.
My take away
on all of this; enjoy your moments, stay close to loved ones and when traveling
through US airports wear shoes that slid off and on easily.
