Saturday, July 10, 2021
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Nanny. This is what we called her. From my earliest memories, she was always there.
From my first memory of my first birthday, still in a high-chair, with cake all over my face, when my dad (Glenn) still had thick black hair and a full beard, right to the very end, she was always there for me.
I like to think my grandmother passed from this world from a high place: Few humans have bragging rights, that they won 1st prize at the Canadian National Exhibition in Art multiple times, or that the Professor of Art from the University hangs Hedrich paintings in her home.
My grandmother was the toughest person I have ever known. Widowed, she refused welfare, learned a new trade and raised a family as a single mother, lived alone in her home for decades both independent and productive, producing countless works of art in many mediums, she bound the family together, cared for and helped us all, survived the unsurvivable, quit smoking, persevered through those golden years, refused to go to a nursing home, and then passed from this realm gracefully, and did all this so nobly.
Looking back, I don't think anyone has had more of an impact on my life than her. She was more than just a great grandmother to me. She was my first friend, my best teacher, my inspiration, my guide, and the source of everything in me that is good. Nanny, thank you for staying around as long as you did. You know I needed it.
Among those who knew her best, the following will be understood. My grandmother lived a long life and lived it well. Those who were closest to her know that she was ready move on. All I can say is, Let the light be abundant, and I wish you fair sailing on the journey across celestial oceans, of new horizons, to the next life.
In tribute to your journey:
"This level reach of blue is not my sea;
Here are sweet waters, pretty in the sun,
Whose quiet ripples meet obediently,
A marked and measured line, one after one.
This is no sea of mine. that humbly laves,
Untroubled sands, spread glittering and warm.
I have a need of wilder, crueler waves;
They sicken of the calm, who know the storm.
So let a love beat over me again,
Loosing its million desperate breakers wide;
Sudden and terrible to rise and wane;
Roaring the heavens apart; a reckless tide,
That casts upon the heart, as it recedes,
Splinters and spars and dripping, salty weeds."
~Fair Weather, by Dorothy Parker, 1928.
You did great Nanny. You were always my #1. Thank you for everything.
Special thanks to my father Glenn, Janis and Barry for working so hard to keep her going, these last few years.
Signed,
Scott Hedrich July 10th, 2021.
