Storytelling Sunday 2

The past couple of months I have read with interest the Storytelling Sunday posts of a couple of my blogging friends thinking hmmm I really should do this but being unsure whether I was allowed to just join in or not I ummmed more than typed lol. As this is the first day of a New Year and a Sunday to boot Sian has started Storytelling Sunday 2 and I am going to join in. You can too by clicking on the link in the words Storytelling Sunday 2 above.

I was sat pondering on what I would share for my first go at this and I kind of went off on a tangent. I started thinking about my nan who would have been 97 tomorrow if she was still with us and how I last saw her in 2004 on her 89th birthday at her home shortly before we lost her but I then remembered the last time I visited her in hospital and although still a fairly sad story it also has some laughter.

It was November 2003 and although bitterly cold it was bright and sunny and a lovely crisp Autumn day, Phil and I had travelled to Swindon with Joel 3 and Dylan not long turned 1 to visit Nan in hospital. Nan had been in and out of hospital many times over the past few years but this was the first time since their move from London to Swindon and I had visited her either alone, with my parents, or with Phil and the boys at every hospital and it was important to me to continue to do so. We went up to see her knowing we couldn't be there too long with small children as it would stress both them and Nan but she was so overjoyed to see them it was worth the long journey for that 10 minute visit with her. She was obviously not very well and we were worried she may not be going back home again at that point but she was still fairly lucid and happy to talk about what the boys were doing and where Phil was going next with the army and of course how I was and the baby I was expecting.

She grumbled and moaned at Gramps until he gave her her purse so that she could give the boys some money for sweets, never mind being in hospital some things are tradition :) After that we could see how tired she was and said our goodbyes, Phil took the boys out first so that I could have a few minutes with her which I didn't know at the time but they would be the last few minutes I had with her where she would recognise me.

We went back to the car but Joel was thirsty so of course Dylan was thirsty and we could only find a fizzy canned drink dispenser so we bought a can of pop and Joel had a rare treat and DYlan his first taste of pop! The boys were not used to canned drinks being anything but beer, the rare occasions that Joel had pop we bought him one of the little panda pop bottles and so the boys were convinced that the innocent can of Lemonade was actually Beer and went around telling everyone that their Daddy gave them Beer at the hospital!

To this day Dylan is still convinced that he had beer how he remembers it is beyond me although I suspect it is more that he and Joel went on about it so much he remembers the story rather than the event lol. I guess though if you are going to give a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old beer a hospital is the place to do it!

I hope that if you enjoyed reading my story you will go and have a look at Sian's blog and join in I would love to read your story's too x