Many of you that follow me on social media and here on the blog would have seen many photos of Kev’s Mum, or Nana for the kids. She was a big part of our life, she would come and stay for a week in the school holidays, help out when things went wrong at home and we needed an extra pair of hands and every Christmas. So there was always many photos of her on here!
So I thought it would be fitting to let you all know that we lost her to cancer in October.
It was a short battle and a rare one so there wasn’t any way she was able to fight it. It was horrible for everyone as you just felt so helpless. Cancer sucks big time I tell you.
Thank you to my blog!
Thanks to my blog, I always had my camera in my hand! So I got some lovely photos over the years and the children can always keep these and remember the fun things we did together.
This was back in August last year at Southsea, she was starting to say she wasn’t quite right and seemed a little off. But she didn’t find out her diagnosis until January.
She hadn’t been in a bumper car for years and years! The kids loved it!!
One of her favourite days out was flying with the Harris Hawk experience we got her for Christmas. It had to be cancelled once already due to the snow, but this was the rearranged one and it was slightly snowing here too. It was pretty magical with the flurry of snow coming down.
She loved this photo of us all at Hatchett Pond, I did a royal wedding picnic for when Harry and Megan got married!
Videos
I also use to create more family videos and vlogs, the most favourite one was Centre Parcs. I watched that one last week and had a little cry! But at least we all have these memories and we can come back here to find them easily.
This blog post will give the children somewhere to visit if they want to see some more photos of her and memories too.
Funeral
We arranged the funeral and made it as personal to Sal as we could do. Asked everyone if they could to wear something purple, may it be clothes or an accessory. This was her favourite colour and it was wonderful to come around the corner on the day and see a flash of purple.
I gave everyone a little bag of purple tulips to plant in their gardens so they can bloom next spring and I wrote the Eulogy of her life with some little stories to tell in there!
We also made the order of service ourselves, including a picture of her late husband.
All the flowers were pinks and purples, and we had a flower heart for each Grandchild. Also, her first Archery bow as Archery was a massive part of her life and where she made many friends.
How Are We All Doing?
Kev has obviously lost his Mum as well as the kids losing their Nana and it’s pretty rubbish. Losing Sal was a bit of a shock as it happened suddenly, and we found her very poorly when we arrived. So we’ve had to all process this, comfort the children and ourselves, but still function as there’s a lot to do.
We feel arranging the funeral was a way we could process it all really, I’ve cried at so many pieces of music as we’ve been trying to find them and so many readings! But I think it allowed us to grieve.
Tyler did an online 24-hour gaming stream to raise money for Cancer Research UK. He set himself a target of £50 which he smashed and raised £174!! It was his way of feeling like he was doing something and in memory of his Nana.
We’ve taken on everything to do with the funeral and sorting out the estate which is why I’ve not had any time or headspace to blog. I really miss it though. It’s my way of shutting everything out and focusing on something else. So I am hoping this week to set some time aside and get back into it.
Thank you for the support on my social media pages, it’s super appriciated
12 Comments
What a lovely post in memory of you Nana. I am so sorry for your loss.
Thank you very much
Aw I am so sorry to read about your loss. Having photos as memories is a good way to keep the spirit alive and remember the happy times for sure. Sending hugs xxxxx
It’s lovely isn’t it having all the memories and photos
So sorry to hear of your loss. She sounded like an amazing memory and what a lovely way to play tribute to her.
Thank you very much
It is so hard when you lose somebody special and so close to the family. You gave her a wonderful funeral and I love how everybody was given purple tulip bulbs to plant. Love to you all.
Thank you so much, people seemed to love the idea too
I am so sorry for the loss of Nana to your family. Cancer is a cruel disease. You are so blessed that you have all of those beautiful photos – well done on taking so many. Sending hugs,
Thank you so much, I am so pleased I do have them too
I’m so sorry for your loss. I am thankfully for my blog too. It means I take pictures where I may not have otherwise and you end up with some lovely ones to treasure great times together. It looks like you all made some lovely memories together.
Thank you very much