My Gran.

Yesterday my grandmother died. She was surrounded by her 7 children, who had been there with her around the clock for days. At last she is free of pain and reunited with her Bill, my grandfather.

Although we all know and accept this is what happens with age (at times - a real bitch, as I have now seen), I am still deeply saddened to know that my wonderful grandparents are now gone. They are so entrenched in my life that it is a strange feeling to have now been set free of this arrangement. And even now, in my 30s with a family of my own, I still consider them my grandparents. By this I mean, I still long for that relationship with them that is not the same as the one you have with your parents. I will miss telling them things, I will miss hearing the stories about people I do not know and I will miss the very wonderful and distinctive sounds of their laughs.

I feel warmed to know they are now together again and I feel a better person for having them so close to me, as family, for my life until now.

Next week we will mourn together as we bury my gran with my pa at Waverly. And together they will rest, surrounded by sea air and the sound of Sydney crashing below them on the rocks.

So the cycle of life has rotated. I know this, because now I can see the next generation, a 17 month old girl who is running around, impersonating her parents, barking orders and generally being awesome, and she is ours. She is our little girl and I am already so so thrilled for her that she has three dynamic, adoring and wonderfully generous and interesting grandparents that she can make her own history with.

This makes me smile.

Now go and hug your Nanna or make her a cup of tea or send her some homemade craft (forever the most genuinely thrilled recipient) or listen to your Gramps explain why 'young Tony Abbott' is doing a good job or learn something else about 'the old days'.

It's a gift (to you not them).