Portrait of Nana #2 - Two Views

Another song she used to sing

She lived her whole life up until a few years ago by the sea. She loved the sea, and when ill health brought her by necessity to live nearer to my Mother, she expressed a deep longing, a pining for the place she had left behind. As her time nearer to us progressed, the pain of leaving her home town behind was gradually replaced with a joy at being able to see family. She carried a great sadness with her, the emotional burden of losing two babies, living through war and more recently losing two husbands. I felt that some form of redemption took place when she was able to meet and get to know my baby, to hold in her arms her only surviving daughter's grandchild - to know that her descendants were alive and thriving, and to meet her late sister's great grand-children too. A few weeks after he was born, she cradled him and rocked him in her arms, gazing into his eyes as she made the sign of the cross on his forehead and said "We welcome you into our family, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit". For this reason, despite the pain of losing her, I felt a sense of completion and peace when she passed away with my Mum by her side.

The picture above shows a painting of the sea in her home town - The scene she so greatly missed and close to which she now lays to rest. The reflection is the view from the little house where she spent her final years, where she longed for the sea but settled and gradually began to find peace. More tomorrow...

in it's place