27/03/2026
Today we celebrate the life of the Matriarch of our family, my ever inspiration and the woman whose Polish roots are deeply ingrained in my memories and of course my DNA, my Nannie Helen. At 99 you managed to hold on just shy of 10 weeks from being a 100 years. What a legacy, I’m so proud and grateful.
I’m grateful for the gifts you have given me in the 42 years I’ve known you; The gift of love, the gift of my voice and the gift of strength that I have inherited from hearing how you and Poppa survived World War 2 when the SS took you as a teen from your family in Gniezno.
I will miss your kind smile, bright blue eyes and generosity. And course the endless cups of tea and talk of your homeland and the traditional Polish Christmas Eve celebrations with the family. I will miss how you loved to talk and talk, how you loved animals, how you showed the greatest of faith in going to church every Sunday well into your 90s, held cups of tea with two hands and always put on your eyebrows and rouge before leaving the house.
I will see you in the clouds, in the birds singing and in the rainbow prisms of light dancing on my walls.
This is not goodbye, as I know you’ve merely returned home. Home to your mum, your heavenly family and beloved husband, Czesław (my ‘wooo-Poppa’!) and your dogs and Tigger the cat of course.
I wish you peace and eternal love Nannie Helen.
Your blonde haired kochanie,
Laura
