So thankful to my Granma...

My late Granma: Maria Mareta Asia Su'a in her 40s

 Today, as I reflect upon the week that has passed, I am so thankful to be a part of a family (my father's mother) who worked together to commemorate a very special mother, grandmother, great x 5 grandmother, auntie, friend who taught us so much during her lifetime and ours and I am so grateful for the privilege of being a part of her legacy. Thank you God!

In her 98 years of life, she taught us all to be loving (fealofani) to each other, she had a neat sense of humour and laughed, danced and enjoyed life. She was so confident in her faith that she wanted no one to mourn or wear black during the funeral/family service (although I wore black intermittently as part of my own mourning) but it was a testament to how she lived and what she believed in.

She loved her family and prayer for us continuously and her extended family, even those in the villages and that was demonstrated in the many people who gave testimony at her family service and funeral service of the ways that she had brought so many people from Samoa in the 1950s to the 1980s and gave them an opportunity to live in NZ. She looked after children, as her own as a widow, in her mature years and many mourned her passing.

She embraced both the faaSamoa and the Western way of doing things and that was evident in the dual cultures that she had walked in. I am so grateful that her funeral reflected her cultures in using both languages throughout the time and in the church service, the hymns in church, during the various rituals and finally her coffin was swathed with tapa before the burial.

Her faith was the strongest pillar in her life of regular fasting, praying and naming each family member and children/great/grandchildren. She was encouraging and demonstrated to us that although she was blind in her latter years that she wanted to live independently. It was a 'never give up' kind of spirit with so much tenacity and generousity in giving things away and not storing her treasures on earth but in heaven.

As a family/aiga we met upon the final night, after the funeral and decided to have a family reunion around the same time next year to commemorate her legacy as well as an unveiling of words on her tombstone with Grandfather. I hopefully will be able to collate a book with the help of family members around her life and times as a pioneering woman and the legacy she left behind to bless at that time.

She has passed but her memories will remain forever in our hearts. I do not say 'ia manuia lou malaga' (may your journey be blessed) Granma but say 'ua manuia lou malaga' (your journey has been blessed). Thank you for the legacy that you gave to us Granma as my final post to lay her to rest...