26,753 Days

Hello, all. It's certainly been a fair few Mondays since this blog has seen a click of my mouse on the "new post" button. However, unlike past hiatuses... hiatusies? hiatusii? It's not been due to me forgetting. Ok, so maybe it was to start with, but unfortunately I have some news.



On the 26th of May, 2012, at 1:10 pm, my phone battery was flat.

One hour later I got woken from my long sleep-in pertaining to a long evening prior by a knock at the door. I was told that my family was trying to get hold of me for the last hour. I plugged in my phone to my laptop to allow it to charge, and amid the phone going through its boot-up cycle, I attempted to dial home. Due to the phone's rude awakening, it decided it didn't want to put the call through, much to my frustration.

Dad called my phone three minutes later, and told me my Grandmother passed away one hour ago.

Nana Jean had been diagnosed with lung cancer in March after going to the doctors remarking she felt sore coming back from a holiday in Australia, following an immediate admittance to Wellington Hospital. I returned home to visit, and came back knowing she was still ok, and returned to my studies.

She was later acquitted from hospital and returned back to her home in Cambourne, under supervision from her son, Uncle John, who had come over from Brisbane since he first heard the news in March.

As of last week, she was put into a hospice due to her not being able to swallow, and on Saturday, passed away peacefully.

My later role with my grandma was, as most teenagers are, a IT support person. I helped her set up and maintain her computers, installing Skype, and even during my university years, remotely help out with e-mail issues. She enjoyed playing games on her computer, later creating a profile on Facebook to continue playing. We'd talk online often. And it felt good to have a constant connection. She even enjoyed reading my blog to see how everything was.

She enjoyed getting outside, her gardens a window into hours of continual tending, or taking walks with her poodle Katie, and even taking a European cruise with friends (and getting held up at Heathrow due to a misplaced teaspoon).

She may have lived by herself, but she was never alone, having friends and family, near and far; whether it was swinging around our house to play Skip-Bo or Rummikub with my mother, or travelling overseas for Christmas to visit her other grandsons.

The relationship one has with their grandparents is, from my viewpoint, an interesting one. I'm sure when my sisters and I were younger we would have see-sawing stances on the relationship with our grandmother, whether she would come and cut our hair in the laundry, or stay a few nights when she had the house at the top of The Track in Plimmerton, but what we may not have known in our juvenile, naive minds is that when it comes to grandparents, you need to cherish every moment. And I certainly now hope that I have, because now the opportunity for making those moments has ended.

Grandma Jean was alive for 73 years and 3 months. And I'm sure she made the most of it.

Jean May Roser
26 February 1939 - 26 May 2012

We were playing cards at her friend's house and this song came on the TV. I was amazed when she said, "I like this song".