My Beautiful Nanny!

10.08.12

This post is dedicated to my loving Grandmother Patricia May Palmer who passed away on the 5th of August, 2012.

Nanny was a best friend to me, she loved to talk, she was a great listener and she had a smile that would light up the whole room. She LOVED to shop and thats why we got on so well. She taught me many things, that I will remember for the rest of my life. 

When I was younger, I would always look forward to the weekends! Nanny and Grandpa would pick me up from school on Friday afternoons and take me back to their house for the whole weekend. I loved going to their house so much! Nanny would always cook me her specialty dish - korma curried chicken EVERY WEEKEND without fail. 

On Saturdays we would go to church together and then come home and all Nanny wanted to do was rest, but NOOO I wanted her to play eye spy with me, and wanted Nanny to give me spelling tests, I'd hide her 'Record' magazine so she couldn't read it. This happened every weekend for YEARS!

On Sundays we would go shopping, to Westfield, to Parklea Markets, to craft shows. We would go to Nurseries so Nanny could buy pansies and roses. When Nanny got older and no longer wanted to drive, I would drive her and push her around in her wheelchair - Mum and I loved it, because when she didn't have the wheelchair we would spend most of the time looking for her, and this way we could keep an eye on her the whole time haha! We have some great memories together!

Nanny and Grandpa had the biggest biscuit box EVER! Nanny's and my favourite biscuits were Monte Carlos and I'd always ask for a biscuit but was never allowed one before 10am because it was too close to breakfast! One day I asked Nanny for a biscuit and it was 9:30am and she said no! I waited for her to go into her bedroom and I got the box down and grabbed several biscuits! I didn't realise she was watching the whole time and she yelled out 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" and I dropped the biscuits on the floor, she said as she was laughing "that will teach you." I never took one before 10am again haha!

Nanny had an incredible memory, once I leant one of my dresses to a friend for a while and Nanny asked me where my 'black' dress was, because she hadn't seen it in my wardrobe for a while. She was so funny, always cracking jokes, she had a great sense of humour and I loved making her laugh.

When I was doing my HSC, Nanny and Grandpa sold their house and were moving to Berowra! I couldn't wait! They found a unit that was just around the corner from where I lived. Unfortunately Grandpa never made it to their new house and he had to go into a nursing home. I was able to move in with Nanny, I helped her around the house and cooked her dinner, helped her dye her hair, we'd watch Two and a Half Men together, they were some of the best times we had together. She always had the best advice about life.

I moved to Newcastle and went to University and every weekend, I'd come back to visit Nanny and Mum. Nanny was a very honest woman, she wasn't afraid to tell you how it was, and she was never afraid to tell me when my hair needed a 'good brush' or when my clothes needed ironing haha!

I can't believe Nanny's gone, it was only last week that Mum rang me and told me that Nanny was in hospital with pneumonia. I immediately hopped in the car and Richie and I drove down to see her in the Emergency ward. I got a shock when I saw her, I had only seen her the week before and everything seemed fine! She could hardly talk because she was so short of breath, but that couldn't even stop her! We went and had lunch and came back and she had improved incredibly! She was alert and back to her old ways telling us off haha! I had written in a book for her, about all of our memories and I gave it to her, she said she was 'dying to read it' (how cheeky) and she would read it when she got home!

I visited her again with Mum and Richie on Saturday and she looked so incredible! Her breathing was SO much better and she was talking non stop, telling us we needed to get more sun because we looked pale haha! We all thought she was coming home, even she thought she was coming home! We all got our hopes up! She was such a strong woman, she never wanted to miss out on anything and that kept her going right until the end!

Sunday we went back, and we couldn't wake her! I assumed it was just the morphine! We said goodbye and Richie and I went back home. I still thought she was coming home! Nanny passed away that night, she wasn't in any pain and she was unaware, which is how she wanted to go!

I'll never forget you Nanny, and all our special memories. You are such an inspiration, so full of love and life. You're only sleeping now, I'll see you again soon. I miss you so much already! xx