Gifts from abroad

When I was a kid the best thing about people coming to visit wasseeing what they brought my brother and I for gifts. My nan was the best... she knew we would be dying to see what had been sent over so her suitcase would be opened up on the livingroom floor as soon as she arrived even though my mum would be saying to leave it until later. I still have the Zapf doll she brought when I was 7. He had an idetification bracelet on his wrist and my mum wrote the name I had chosen, Matthew, and my Nan's arrival date was his birthday- July 27, 1980. Along with half the lashes in one eye and his clothes that bracelet is long gone, but the doll himself has been well loved.

Always, always in my nan's suitcases, or my aunts', would be sweets and chocolate. I am sure I have said before that English chocolate is a thousand times better than ours. But the best thing of all are my beloved Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles. Yummy.

We went to see my mum yesterday. Although I have outgrown my absolute desire to have my gifts NOW my son has not. And knowing there were bars of chocolate awaiting him was pure torture. And it was torture for me to listen to him from Friday afternoon on asking when we were going to go see Nanny.

For Liam there were 6 Boost bars, and an electronic dragon to build from my aunt and uncle. My mum also got him a Liverpool shirt, but decided to save it for Christmas. Taylor received 2 large bags of maltesers, a much nicer version of our Whoppers and a couple of Jacqueline Wilson books. If you have a daughter of the 9-14 age group I highly recommend her. I've read a few myself, they are fantastic. William got 6 Yorkie bars and a huge Whole Nut Dairy Milk. I got 2 tubes of fruit pastilles and 2 of berry pastilles. Since strawberry and blackcurrant are my two favourite flavours I no longer even need the fruit pastilles anymore, I can just have berry forever more. For Saoirse there was a pack of chocolate buttons, which made her day.

My grandfather also sent two copies of Wet Wet Wet CDs that had been in the paper. He remembered that I had loved them the summer I was 13 and so saved them for me. This, the same man we are afraid to tell about Sophie. Still, I can't beleive he remembered.

My mum also brought back the scrapbook I had made for my nan the summer before she passed away. It has pictures of the 6 great grandchildren she had at that time, there have been two since. I wanted to add Sophie and Jacob, but since my grandad still does not know of Sophie's existence there is really no one to give it back to.

Back in December, I posted about my grandmother's death and something else sent over for me was a copy of the program for her service. Included in this was something my brother had written and I am going to post it here, because it speaks so well as to what sort of person my nan was (and my brother apparently, who is so much better with words than I am.)

This is what my uncle read:

Tribute From Distant Family
There are those who cannot be here today. Some prevented by ill-health, like Rene's brother Ken and his wife Audrey...
and others farther afield...

For them...
These are words from Irene's grandson, Thom, in Canada, but they express so well the sentiments felt by all those who are far away...

"My Nan was a woman who had a great joy for life.
A woman whose heart held a love unbounded.

At times I have felt that the distance between us has been like a chasm.

Regret for the moments that we could have shared seeps in, yet then, another part of me speaks and I recognize this regret as false, for my Nan will always rest within my heart.

And, although her last breath has passed her lips, her love still moves through me, as it moves through her whole family.

So clear this is to me when I think of the youngest of her family:

Children filled with joy and wonder.

Children born of love.

And how fortunate we are that the love with shared with her is a love we will share forever."