Voices Of Experience

- Steve Finan

WHEN I was young, my Granny A was a powerful presence in my life. She was a tiny woman, but as strong as steel and quick as a whiplash. She was also incredibly generous and loving and would fight for “her own” as hard as any grizzly bear.

If you had a problem, Granny A could solve it. She could cook like a cordon bleu chef, sew up a wedding dress from a few rags and work as hard as any man who ever walked the earth.

Her best friend, another formidable woman named Annie, was always in Granny A’s house. They lived on cups of tea and cleaned everything. Absolutely everything. Spring cleaning lasted from April to the following March.

Eventually Annie, although only in her early sixties, had to be put in a nursing home. We didn’t, or at least I didn’t, understand the term “early onset dementia” at the time. Fiercely loyal, however, Granny A visited two evenings each week. She stoically sat for two hours each night, talking to her lifelong friend.