Advent Calendar Day 13

 

The 13th, unlucky for some. And well, this post is a little bittersweet. So I’ll do a bait and switch - it’s Taylor Swift’s birthday, anyone else obsessed with her version of Red?

Today marks the three year anniversary of my Grandad’s death. We’d sent a foster pup to her new forever home, been receiving updates on Grandad’s situation all day, and just about tucked up into bed when I got the phonecall. He was gone.

For the next 6 months I wrestled with the fact I had not seen him in the last few months of his life - I didn’t even visit him when he was ill. I was working at Costa at the time, my shifts were all over the place, and I just thought he’d get better. Which he didn’t. With hindsight, I kick myself for not visiting but truly we didn’t realise how bad he was until he was in the hospital. And then he was gone just a few days after that. I couldn’t trek out to Wrexham for visiting hours because I was working and then on the open the following day - see more pitiful work related excuses.

While I miss him all the time - we operated on very similar levels - I do my best to keep him in my life. I put out fat balls for the birds, and I learned how to make honeycomb in his honour. For a very long time, he would bring me a packet of Crunchies every time he and my Nan came to visit, because they knew it was my favourite chocolate bar. So whenever I have one now, or make my own to put in yummy things, it makes me think of that.

Here is my very favourite picture of him, me, and my Nan.

Urm, let’s leave this on a lighter note. Monday 13^th is Garfield’s worst Monday.