Remembrances
A Letter to Mumsie
My Funeral Speech to My Wonderful Grandmother
Author’s note: The pandemic has taken so much away from us all. In light of the losses we have collectively experienced, I wanted to share some small fragments of my life in the hope that I will help someone else who has experienced similar loss. Having lost both my grandmother and my mother in the last seven months, I feel simultaneously more fragile and awakened to the desperate privation that is possible.
I wanted to share this funeral speech for my Mumsie as a gesture of truth in the face of devasation. My grandmother was, simply put, a force of nature. I loved her in the simplest yet most devoted ways. Please feel free to read on, or not, as the impulse strikes you.
Mumsie,
You know that I’ve never been one for grandiose speeches, but if anyone has ever deserved one, it’s you. I can fondly remember the day that you authentically walked into my life and showed me your true colors. Like my mother, your colors are “multi.”
As a child, my siblings and I often spent time with my paternal grandmother, who took us to bookstores and bought us toys, and taught us how to swim in the lake. It was a glorious childhood. As I reached my adolescent years, there was a shift in your life, and it would…
