Family time

I have just returned from spending the weekend with some of my family in Dunedin.  I spent the time being treated like an honest to God princess and my accommodation felt like a five-star luxury resort.  I kept looking for the concierge!

While in Dunedin my incredible cousins Jan and Lisa dreamed up a day of adventures for me.  It started with a home cooked brunch which they watched me eat.  Just to clarify they are not weirdos - I had not eaten very much the day before. 

Once they were sure I was well fed physically they took me to the first surprise, we washed and scrubbed our nana and poppa's gravestone and we did a hell of a job if I do say so myself. My nana was a very neat lady and I swear I could hear her grinning from ear to ear because she now had the cleanest grave on her row. We even uncovered a line on her grave that I didn't know was there, it reads "always in our thoughts" and they truly are.

At the suggestion of Lisa, we used the last of our Exit Mould to clean and tidy up a random grave. We thought it would be a kick for their loved ones the next time they visit.  We had the left-over product and a bucket of water on hand - it seemed silly to waste it.  I have no idea who Betsy and James were but I liked their names so I chose that headstone.  It also came up a treat and we left the cemetery with both headstones literally twinkling at us in the afternoon sun.  

Then it was off for a cuddle and a giggle with Stephen my oldest cousin. He was an oopps baby like me and there is a large age gap between us.  I didn't actually meet Stephen in the flesh until I was in my thirties!  Regardless of that we have well and truly made up for lost time and he looks more and more like my brother the older they both get.  I suspect if they both make it to 80 years old they will have morphed into twins :-)

The final surprise was the cherry on the top of the entire weekend.  We hadn't gone past my nanas old home on our way from the airport to the house I was staying.  Its usual for family members to divert down this street on their way past.  Even if we are staying miles away its tradition to pop by and look at the wee house on the corner which held so many precious family members and thus memories.

Unusually we drove to the family home on our way back to the airport and I wasn't sure why we were there for a specific time but I gamely got out of the car and then I noticed it - an 'open house' flag fluttering in the wind. 

We got to go through the entire home which had been updated since the last time I was there.  They had even made a number of structural changes but the bones of the old girl were still intact.

We spent time saying "do you remember when?" and "this is where I slept when I stayed with nana, oh ok well I slept in that room there” You get the picture - we had a ball.  To be able to do that with my cousins was magical, they sat with me inside that house while my nana died and we all shared a powerful three days communing with each other. 

I am not sure about the rest of the family but that time was truly significant for me and it really mattered that I was sharing that experience with my other cousins, the grief journey of losing our beloved nana melded us together in that way you cannot explain.

I have a feeling that Nancy my nana kept asking God for a bit more time on earth because she was having so much fun listening to us all catch up with each other across her bedspread.  She wanted to hang around for a day or so longer than she should have -  just so she could hear the updates and gossip relating to various family members and loved ones.  Then she left us quietly and peacefully and must have been thrilled to have so much good news to pass onto those loved ones who were waiting to greet and welcome her back to her eternal home. 

One last thought - Lisa joked that when her sister Jan retires later this year that she should pop out to the cemetery to clean a random grave each week.  She was half joking but the idea stayed with me and I am off to find out if there are any graves in the Featherston cemetery that could do with a good clean.  

There's bound to be right?