Today time stopped still
Today we ached for the loss of our Nonna
Today we sat in church and the tears felt like they would never stop
Today people said to us that they wished the world was full of people like our family
People who loved and cared for each other like it was the most important thing in the world
came together as one, rather than individuals living in one space. Lived together and hoped together.
Today we spoke to a whole crowd of people, and told the story of our family, our lives, and the gratitude that we have for the Grandparents who we were so blessed to know
Who survived war, immigration to a foreign country, racism and discrimination, decades of hard labour and gave us such strong and immeasurable values and ethics, love and compassion that nobody could ever take away.
Who gave us strength that we will carry with us until we are gone, and pass it on to our children
also...
Today we taught our children something perhaps even more important
We taught them that even though there are moments that life throws at you, that are completely out of your control, and you feel like you might just want to lay down, and never get up again
we are in control of our lives and our choices
we can choose to stay down, or try to get back up
And on one of the darkest days that we have had to endure as a family, we were knocked down.
But we made a choice to get back up. To be aching inside but try to make each other smile anyway. Just because we are feeling as if we have been thrown off the edge of the world as we know it, does not mean we have to live inside that feeling.
And in the coming days, months and years, those feelings of being knocked over will come again and again
and I hope that our children remember today, and that they are in charge of how they live their lives and react to anything that life throws at them.
Like flowers growing through the cracks in concrete. Where there is life, there is hope.
In loving memory of our beautiful Nonna
Loved more than words can express
May you rest in peace with the angels
