Missing Nana

About six years ago, I wrote a post about Nana and the last of her home-canned peaches. And I talked about how lucky we were to have her still, and to have her be so much herself, after what she called her "little spell" and the doctors called a hemorrhaging brain aneurism. (For those of you who don't follow the link: this is my "aunt" Kathy's mother.)

Nana died last night. And all I can think of was the time when she was caring for Nanu when he was so sick before he died, and how he said, "Dorothy, you've been so good to me, you're going to heaven for sure." And quick as a flash, she said, "Oh, no, Frank! I want to be with you!" There are so many Nana quotes that have made their way into my family's daily vocabulary--the top two are "Didn't you do that last time we went out?" and "Eat your fruit and go," but I'm sure there will come moments in the next few months when something comes out of my mouth and I stop and think, "Oh, that was from Nana." She was just one of those people you can't help smiling about even when you're crying.