A Special Rose...

For a special lady.

And just two days after mum's birthday, it's yours Gran. 

 You would have been 97 years old today and it's easy to imagine what you would have been like as I was so lucky to have you in my life till the ripe old age of 91.  That's you being 91, not me!  :-))   

The roses David bought me earlier this week have all opened out now and seeing them reminds me of the vase of roses that used to sit on your beautiful mahogany sideboard for most of the summer.   The difference is your roses were from the garden, lovingly grown by my grandpa.  

Old fashioned tea roses with a scent that captivated me even as a very young child and tempted me to pick the heads off two of Grandpa's best roses to convert the petals into perfume by mashing them with a little water and some food colouring!   I can still remember his face when he spotted the two headless stems among his beautiful roses and yet he could never be angry with me.  

So many wonderful memories of you.   Mum was amazing and you made her, so that makes you extra amazing.   And you made me who I am today.   Thank you for being my guide, my mentor, my friend and most importantly, my other mother.  I owe everything to you.

I hope   Grandpa you and mum are having a wee celebration together.  I shall raise a glass to you later tonight while David and I laugh about the time you gave him fake jammy dodgers with his cuppa, and laughed at his polite confusion as his teeth sank into the chewy rubber!   You were a bad ass gran!  :D

The next time that we meet, I will bow at her feet and say wasn't life sweet then we'll prepare, to take heaven down there.