My beloved Nana passed away only hours after I published my last post.

I was fortunate enough to be with her as she took her last breath, and then breathed no more. What a strange and beautiful, haunting and special time. My aunt and I put our hands on her chest as she took up to 20 seconds between each breath. After the last we waited for several minutes in a suspense mode.

The next hours and days were… emotional.

The funeral was truly a celebration of an amazing lady. If I’m able to obtain a copy of my mum and Uncle’s speeches I’ll post them. My Nana is STILL an inspiration.

We’ve become closer as a family and this time has marked a shift from relatives seeing each other only at events, to one family unit moved by the one force – her undying love.

RIP my beloved Nana.

It was a wonderful consolation to my mother that my children were not guarded from the events of the past 6 months, during which cancer slowly claimed her life. I was able to begin teaching my daughter piano in the waiting room of the hospice and my son on a few occasions swept us all to tears as he fearlessly and naturally would hop up on her bed, kiss her on the check and whisper the sweet words a five year old knows and a 34 year old strains to remember! My fiance, children, sister, brother-in-law and niece all placed flowers on the coffin at the same time. My mum said she was proud to have daughters who allowed their children to be part of such a special time.

Nana left us with MANY lessons. I’m almost looking forward to filling the order of her Christmas cakes for each household in our family this year…. almost! that’s….1,2,3,4,5,6,7…. 7 cakes plus a couple more for in-laws! Make it 10. That will do….

… and now to domestic chores. Holidays here for one more week… a great time to catch up on cleaning! (Now she is looking down on me and my brood from above…. she can see my kitchen and unmade beds! lol) It will be nice to have her spirit around… my cooking is sure to improve!

Namaste

…and yet my daughter keeps learning! At the moment she is teaching herself guitar off a video in the lounge room while I work on a Uni assignment. My son is replacing batteries in one of his toys… which has just broken… so he’s calmly packing it away and choosing another… no tantrums, pretty good for a 5 year old! My beloved is typing away at the first chapter of his thesis… which is concluding this year, before he begins his PhD.

The home is feeling good with lots of room to keep creative and enough tools for many jobs (instruments, science gadgets, books, DVDs etc). We’ve been on excursions and get togethers, had regular play dates and in general enjoyed a wonderful first 10 weeks of the school year.

Last term we studies water cycles and religions of the world. Handwriting has improved, intrinsic motivation flowed and Montessori has well and truly been a guiding light for my family, and our friends and extended family. Even the registration process was an opportunity for those not familiar with Maria Montessori to see how it is possible to educate children through a prepared environment, as opposed to a teacher directed methodology.

Next term Scouts, Sounds and continuation of natural learning!

More updates soon…