That’s my gran right in the middle. She passed away last night.

We all thought it was coming. She certainly knew it was. Still, incredibly hard to realise.

I have more memories of my gran than I could possibly write down, but two will stick with me for the rest of my life.

The first was about ten years ago. Gran was a few years into her heart problems and had begun to pack up her house. Each visit brought with it more trinkets and whatnots to be handed-out to all and sundry. One day, at such a gathering, someone asked her why she was getting rid of almost everything she owned.

“Well I don’t think I’ll be around much longer you see.” Silence. “Oh, you can’t think like that.” “No no, I’m really quite comfortable with it”. There was a glimmer of keen longing in her eyes. “The Lord has a place for me and I’m really looking forward to meeting Him.”

I’ll always remember that my gran never feared the end of her life. In fact, she was quite comfortable with the very tempory nature of her time here on earth. More comfortable with it than anyone else I know.

The second memory is more recent. It was late afternoon on December 19th, 2009 and Amy and I had just been married. We were about to walk out from the dining room to our guard of honour before driving off on honeymoon, when we saw my gran still sitting at the very back of the room.

By this time her mind had gotten foggy and she wasn’t entirely sure about her surrounds. She must have been exhausted after a whole day out, but as we walked back across the room her eyes lit up. As we sat down she looked at us and said “Thank you for a lovely day. I feel so priveleged to have been invited.”

I’ll always remember her kindness and humility. And I’ll remember her inner, God-given peace.

Even as her mind let her down and her body became frail, she never complained about her ailments. Nor did she ask people to pity her. She took it in her stride and kept her eyes on the goal.

So, farewell and congratulations Gran. You made it home. We are so happy for you.