Grandmas are special people

My Grandmas are 3 of the most important people in my life.  Yes, I'm lucky enough to have 3 and I have never EVER thought of the third one as a step grandma.  To me she is no different to the other 2.  I spent my childhood growing up very close to my grandmas to the extent of living down the road from my mum's mum and visiting every morning before school so I could practice on her piano and I lived with my dad's mum every second weekend when I was visiting him.

My mum's mum has been battling cancer for a number of years now (first breast, then bone and liver) and last week she lost the fight.  The worst part was that she has been having chemo for the last few months and because I was pregnant I wasn't allowed to visit her at all.  Fortunately she had finished her treatments a few weeks before she was put into hospital for the last time and I spent most of that last week visiting her.  We spent lots of time together as an extended family ( grandad, cousins, aunty's, uncles, etc). 

I am doing a terrible job of writing this, but it's not very clear in my head.  

It's actually been a few weeks since I wrote this and I was going to write some memories I have of her, but I don't need to.  I know I will never forget them.  I can't think of anything to say except how much I love her and how lucky I was to spend so much of my life with her.  The last few years I lived in a different town, but ALWAYS visited a few times when I returned home.  Grandma and Grandad down the road (as we called them) were always first priority on my visiting list.

Grandma was famous for her mudcake.  I am famous for making it terribly (dried and crumbly, forgot the sugar, undercooked type terribly). This cake is something very special to me as I once spent a weekend with Grandma and this was one of things she taught me to do that weekend (you think I'd be an expert at it, but no).  My mum asked me to have one more go at making it to share with the family for the small gathering after the funeral.  She also told everyone I was doing it so the pressure was on.  I am pleased to say it was beautiful.  Right texture, flavour and look.  It was the first thing to be eaten at the party and the whole thing was devoured in about 10 minutes.  I shared a piece with Milly and the taste was good too! My Grandad told me that it wasn't quite as good as Grandma's (which I knew, of course), but that I should make one every week and drop it off to him and he will let me know when I've got it as good as hers! Cheeky!

Before the oven

Perfect crust. Yummy!

I know this isn't a very nice photo of my Grandma, but I was so lucky to get one her with Claire, her 9th great grandchild.  Claire was 2 weeks old here and Grandma even managed a smile when she met her and remembered who she was the next day. Oh the other lady is my mum.  The photo shows 4 generations.