We lost my lovely Aunty Joan a couple of weeks ago, on 9th April, my mother’s second oldest sister and a very special aunty.  Aunty Joan was 96, had a very happy life and passed away surrounded by her immediate family in her own bed.  She was mentally alert to the end but her body had had enough and she was ready to go to heaven and see her sisters.   I’ve never know anyone else with her capacity for patience and love for others, I was privileged to be a niece of hers and to have a strong bond with her.  Aunty Joan  loved nothing better than to tell stories about the family and we loved to listen to them time and time again – I wrote this for her last year but added the last verse specially to read at her memorial service.  God bless you Aunty Joan, give Mam a hug from me xxxx

The keeper of stories –
Old enough to know,
With answers to share
And secrets to keep,
Who, in-between sleep,
May divulge a tale or two
Of times gone by.
The keeper dips into
The well of family lore
To bring forth a story
At the end of the rope
Spinning rainbows of hope
Between the clouds
On a rainy day.

The stories are old,
All heard before,
Every word is known,
Yet a joy to hear,
A treat for the ear,
Building memories
To pass on.
Our lives are richer
For the stories heard
The past made present
To be viewed anew
And talked through,
Again
And again.

Stories that weave
Time and place,
Setting the scene:
Lady Beynon, Aunty Mag a Tan,
Boper Saran, Kippers from the Isle of Man!
Worry not, the keeper is safe,
Her stories are too,
Passed on to me and to you.
She loved us all
And her joy
Shines through –
Past and present merge,
Family yarns preserved
In the Keeper’s unique
Rainbows of hope.

(c) wordz2go Feb 2018
Revised 29 April 2019

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”