Annie

He sits by the bed and is surprised to see the old woman look at him with a clarity that defies the morphine pumped into her veins. Their eyes meet only for seconds before her eyes close again and she is gone. This is how my father's week began and how my grandmother's life ended.

Annie was my Grandmother, my Nanny. After my Papa, Jimmy, died in December Annie's mind became increasingly confused. I believe that she could simply not accept his passing so instead retreated her thoughts to earlier years and events imagined. Despite her confusion in the end Annie still knew her mind in as much as that she knew what she wanted, a strong will to compensate for her failing mind. Her wit never suffered much either, and if I think about her now I think about how she made me laugh.

Annie, like Jimmy, was one of life's great characters. Her generation has such a rich history due to circumstances of the era that in all likelihood characters such as herself will never be seen by this world again. Her mother died when she was fourteen making her tough before she should have been. When war broke out she worked in a munitions factory and drove a steam truck. I cannot imagine what her life must have been like in those years. It's hard to visualise my wee Nanny at the wheel of that big truck.

She once told me a story of walking home from her work with her friend one day when a man grabbed the two of them, flung them over a wall and lay on top of them. I was shocked; believing that she was telling me that his man was attacking her! "no," she said at the time "the planes were bombing us and he was protecting us from the rubble." An unimaginable time to be alive I think you will agree.

I'll finish off now with the short passage I wrote for Annie's order of service. Her passing is a sad occasion but I the end I think those that knew her knew that without Jimmy this world was too lonely a place for her to stay.

Together Again

nnie was a loving mother, grandmother and great grandmother, however, her greatest love was undeniably Jimmy. Some of the last words Annie spoke were to say that Jimmy was "keeping a place" for her and we know that she is now in that place, happy to be together again and for all time.

Annie Ambrose

1923—2008

The People I Know – Michelle: Conclusion

I worked my way through the crowded club with the guilt moving up my spine and turning to fear. It is not fear of reprisal or harm but rather the much more potent and damaging fear that I might have hurt someone I love. What a day it was, one of the best of my life and not only for how it ended, but still, what a day to hurt a friend; on their own birthday.

"Sparkie," I said "I need to talk to you,"

He looks at me with eyes clouded by the copious amounts of alcohol which had been consumed over the course of the entire day. Slowly I saw him focus and come close so as to hear what I had to say over the din of club "What's up?" he said and then I told him. He looked up wide eyed with surprise that gave way to a smile. He shook my hand, pat my back and sent me back to her. He had given me his blessing to break the code, and for the second time that night I take the girl who will one day be my wife in my arms and kiss her deeply.

Weeks passed before I realised I love her. She said it first but the feeling was there long before. We spoke of marriage very early on, but at one point I asked Michelle to stop, believing that our constant talk would taint the things that would come; proposal, engagement, living together, the wedding and the marriage its self. Four years later that we decide to go to Dublin for a long weekend. Michelle had always wanted to go and I decided that this would be the place I ask her to marry me. And the time I was still at college and did not have a job, but I did have savings, plenty to buy the ring my sister helped me pick out. On the 5^th June 2003 we decided to go to the little town of Bray, an old sea side resort. It was a wet and miserable day and Michelle was unhappy to come all that way for a beach with no sun. I suggest to her we make the best of it and pick stones from the pebble beach. As we walked along Michelle turned to me as I asked her what she thought of the stone I had and found me on my knee presenting the ring.

Only months passed and we were in the flat that we had went to see the week we came back from Ireland. Three years from the day we move in I turn to see a vision in red walk down the isle and to my side. The wedding was much larger than planned but an unqualified success by all accounts, undoubtedly another day I consider the best of my life, just as the day we were first together.

I am lucky in love. A love like ours; so compatible and comfortable, is a rare and treasured thing. The sight of Michelle can't help but put a smile on my face and I still get excited at the prospect of seeing her. It is an unquantifiable pleasure to know Michelle and have her at my side through life, for her to love me as I love her is an indescribable experience. We should all of us be so lucky.

THIS WEEK
I Watched: - The Good Shepherd
I Read: - The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
I listened to: - Started a Fire by One Night Only